Deal Gone Bad
by Catygirl
Summary: When an elite SG team are killed on Earth it's up to NCIS to solve the case. Team fic with appearances from all SG-1 old and new and NCIS pre Kate's death. AU but not too out of character. A little romance along the way. Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1

This is a re-post as I realised for Vala and Sam to be in a story together it has to be season 10. Makes no other difference as no SG1 stories are mentioned. Therefore set a couple of episodes into season 10.

Author's Note: Here is the first chapter in my first cross-over story. Just for info - no matter how NCIS/Stargate fit in our world I have set this in Season 10 SG1 and Season 2 NCIS. The story is finished, just having final touches put to it by my beta. Hope you enjoy, I don't own either show or any of the characters.

General Jack O'Neill had been enjoying his Friday. One of those days when he'd finished all relevant paperwork and was simply looking forward to the weekend. A rare weekend when his - could he call her his girlfriend - would be coming to stay. However, he realised that his plans for a perfect weekend would have to be put on hold when his desk phone, work cell and personal, only-Sam-Cassie-and-Daniel-have-the-number cell all rang at the same time.

Crap

"O'Neill," he said, hitting the button on the desk phone while trying to fish the other two out of his jacket pocket.

"Sir, General Landry is on the line and Colonel Carter said she would call your cell when she heard he was on the phone."

Double Crap. It had to be bad if Sam was waiting to reduce his blood pressure on another line.

"Ok, give me a second to put Carter on hold then put me through to Landry." He picked up his personal cell with the photo of Sam smiling at him on the screen; Cassie had set it up the last time he'd been in Colorado. "Sam, I know this is serious, but I'd better speak to Hank. Hold on, will you?" He didn't even wait to hear her response before he took a deep breath and then hit the Line 1 button on the phone.

"What's going on, Hank? I know it's bad because Carter called the emergency line." He was resigned to the fact that his day was about to get much more complicated.

Hank allowed himself a small smile - he should have known Colonel Carter would be ahead of him. He took a deep breath. "Jack, there's no easy way to say this, but we lost SG-7 this morning."

"What? All of them?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it was bad…"

"Wait a minute, they weren't due off-world this week," Jack interrupted.

"That's part of the problem, Jack. It happened here, on their doorsteps, some with family looking on."

"Oh God."

"It was done simultaneously by a team."

"Crap. I don't imagine we'll be able to keep this under wraps?"

"No. But fortunately one of the families called us before they called the police. We've been in touch with the local LEO's and they're happy to hand it over to us but…"

"SG-7 were Marines," Jack finished for him.

"Yup."

"Are NCIS on their way?"

"Local office is Camp Pendleton. No need for Navy cops in the middle of continental USA..." Hank started to explain.

"No, but we need to control this more," Jack stated.

"That's what I was thinking."

"Gibbs," Jack said.

"Gibbs," Hank agreed.

"Ok, Hank, you deal with the families. They're gonna need a whole lot of support to get through this. I'll brief Gibbs and his team and send them out to you."

"Are we talking full disclosure, Jack?"

"I think we have to, don't you? A whole SG team in one hit? This has to have something to do with the programme."

"How's the President going to feel about you bringing in another agency?"

"It's been coming for a while. It's only been luck and some fancy political footwork that's kept NCIS out of investigating incidents with Marines at the SGC before."

"Ok, Jack, I'll let you get on. Sorry to ruin your weekend."

"There'll be other weekends." Jack paused. "Keep in touch, Hank. Any whispers around the base, I want to hear about it. No one takes out our people and gets away with it. NCIS may be investigating but that doesn't stop us from digging around ourselves."

"Understood. I'll put SG1 on it."

"I'll give Carter the news now, if you want. She's waiting for me to get back to her."

"Yeah, thanks, Jack." Hank sighed and hung up.

Jack took a deep breath and reached for the cell phone. Now he understood why Sam had called. What a total nightmare.

"Hi, Sam," Jack said quietly, as he picked up the cell.

"Hi. Did Landry fill you in?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry about Stacy. I know you two had gotten close, what with working on your doohickeys together over the last few years."

"Yeah. It's weird. I'm used to losing people in the field - after Janet I almost didn't react to it anymore - but this, this is different. They were at home, Jack. Alastair was there. He saw it happen."

"Damn, how long had they been married again?"

"3 months give or take a few days. Colonel Milton had kids; they were in the house at the time, too."

"Crap." Jack was putting on his jacket and switching off his computer as he spoke to her. "I'm off to brief NCIS now. Landry wants you guys to do a little investigating yourselves."

"Are you going to tell them everything?"

"Yeah, I think its best. If we want them to catch the shooters, they'll need to know what the Marines were up to."

"Ok, Jack. Obviously I won't be out there this weekend."

"I know, but if there's a bright side to this, the Head of Homeworld Security is definitely coming to Colorado to oversee things. I'll get a beam to the Mountain after I see Gibbs."

"Ok, see you later. I'm glad you're coming," Sam added quietly.

"Yeah, me, too, Sam. I'll see you later. Bye."

Jack walked out of his office. "Sergeant, call the director of NCIS and tell him I need to speak to Special Agent Gibbs ASAP and that I'll be arriving in 30 minutes. Get in touch with whichever ship is up there. I'm gonna need a beam to the mountain."

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh, and call the car. Sergeant Martin is probably eating cake in the mess." Jack was just about to walk out the door, when he turned back to the sergeant. "Crap, call the President and ask for a minute. Put him through to the car. I knew I'd forgotten something."

"Yes, Sir." His assistant smiled. It always amazed him how the General could deal with a universe in crisis so expertly, while giving the impression that he didn't have everything under control. It was an excellent disguise.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: here is chapter 2. Please remember we are in season 2 of NCIS. Thanks for reading.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat at his desk, completing his team leader report on the last mission. His eyes were flicking from the computer screen to his small notebook and then to the reports from the rest of his team. It had been a wild ride: Kate had ended up kidnapped by a crazy Petty Officer; Tony had nearly shot her; and McGee had dislocated his finger with his own weapon. What a crack team he had, Gibbs mused, as he looked around his bullpen at the members of his team. They were all counting down the minutes until the weekend officially started. Gibbs was about to let them all go when the phone rang. He could hear the groans from all of them.

"Gibbs."

"Jethro, you and your team need to be in MTAC for a briefing. Now."

"What's going on, Director? We were about to leave."

"Top secret, Gibbs. The Air Force needs to talk to us."

"Yes, Sir."

"Briefing. MTAC. Now," Gibbs said, as he began walking towards the stairs.

The rest of the team followed him reluctantly, Tony making the odd comment about the plans he was going to have to cancel.

"Today, DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted from half way up the stairs, without even turning around.

"Coming, Boss!"

Once inside the secure room Gibbs walked over to the Director. "So, what's the big deal?"

"I have no idea, Jethro. I was only told your services were needed and that we had to attend a briefing with an Air Force General."

"Why are we involved with the Air Force?"

"Jethro, when the President himself calls, you tend not to ask questions."

"He's here, Sir," the assistant sitting in front of the computer screen reported.

"Good. Open the door," the Director called to the guard.

All eyes were on the door of the room as it opened and a tall General swept in, followed by an aide. "Director Morrow, I'm General..."

"Jack O'Neill, I'll be damned," Gibbs finished.

"Hello, Gunny. It's been a long time," Jack said, as he turned and addressed Gibbs.

"Kuwait, I think, Sir."

"Yes."

"So, what's this all about, General?" the Director questioned.

"Could we have the room secured, Director?" Jack asked before continuing.

"It is."

"And all of these people are in Agent Gibbs' team?" Jack indicated to the two computer assistants and the guard at the door.

"No."

"Then can we have the room secured, please, Director?"

"Very well. Collins, Stains, leave us."

Jack turned to the assembled group. He really hated this part of his job but he was getting better at it.

"My name is Major General Jack O'Neill and I am head of a secret branch of the Defence Department known as Homeworld Security. You are here today because of an incident in Colorado Springs involving a team of Marines who were under my command."

Jack looked around the room and was unsurprised to see he had everyone's attention. "The information I'm about to give you is classified under Section 11-C-9 of the National Security Act." There were a few moments of silence as Jack looked at everyone; he could see they all understood this was above Top Secret. Satisfied, he continued, "For the last 10 years, members of the Air Force and Marine Corps have been travelling from Earth to different planets as part of a command called the SGC or Stargate Command."

There was the expected intake of breath.

"Oh, good one, Boss, you almost had me there. This a Marine-type joke?" Tony started laughing from the seats at the back of the room.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs growled, as Kate whacked his thigh.

"Sorry, Boss."

Jack looked at DiNozzo before continuing. "I know this sounds like a movie but it's true. You're being briefed on this because early this morning one of our elite teams was taken out, assassination style, on their own doorsteps."

"On separate properties, General?" the Director asked for clarification.

"Yup, all at the same time."

"A hit then. We're going to need Ducky," Gibbs stated, as he looked at the Director.

"Damn, I forgot about them. Agent McGee, have Dr Mallard and Ms Suito join us, please." The Director motioned for Tim to phone the missing team members.

In the lull in proceedings Kate spoke up. "General, this is fairly unbelievable. Are you saying we have had contact with people on other worlds?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Wow," she finished.

"I'm sure I've seen this film, Kate. There's a baddie and the handsome or gorgeous military personnel save the day. Maybe there's a cute babe in it for me?"

"Oh, there are several babes, Agent DiNozzo, but if you call them that you're likely to end up in hospital for a very long time." Jack spoke from right in front of the two agents, although neither had noticed his approach.

"Sorry, Sir." DiNozzo was unusually contrite

There was a commotion at the door as Abby and Ducky barrelled in.

"What's wrong? What happened? Is everyone alright?" Abby's questions were directed at no one in particular but demanded an immediate answer.

"Ms Suito, everything is fine. Please take a seat. General, please continue." The Director cut through Abby's questions.

"Ok, for our new arrivals, this information is classified above Top Secret by the National Security Act, understand?" Jack began, looking at both Abby and Ducky, before continuing. "One of our elite teams, a group of marines, have been murdered. And, as I was just telling the others, they were part of a group of personnel who have been travelling through a Stargate to other planets."

"Whoa, back up, other planets?" Abby burst in, leaping out of her seat and looking around at everyone, seeing if they were all pulling her leg.

"A team murder, very interesting," Ducky began.

Gibbs smiled his slight smile at the antics of his team.

"Yes to both," Jack said curtly. "Now, can I finish the briefing?"

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir. I'll sit down now," Abby babbled.

"The team were called SG-7 and comprised a Colonel, Captain and two Lieutenants. They were all killed when they answered their doors this morning to unknown callers at 9am Mountain Time. There doesn't seem to be any reason for the attack and there'd been no problems experienced by the team. They'd returned from a routine mission to P3X-985 - that's a special designation we have for planets; Carter will explain it better at the Mountain. I need you to come and investigate the deaths because they're marines and I trust Gibbs to do the job properly."

Just as Jack finished, his cell phone rang, the work one. "General O'Neill."

"Jack, it's Hank. We need to get the NCIS team here ASAP. The local LEO's are getting twitchy. They don't want to turn the crime scenes over to folks who aren't trained for that kind of work."

"Ok. What do you suggest?"

"Colonel Carter mentioned you planned to beam here. I'm suggesting you all come and that you come now."

"Ok, hold on a minute, Hank." Jack turned back to the group watching him. "Well, Director, Gibbs, will the team be able to carry out the investigation?"

The Director quickly glanced at Gibbs before turning back to Jack. "It goes against protocol but yes, I agree to the team going."

"Good, they have 5 minutes to gather what they need before transport to Colorado. Meet back here as the camera's off in this room. We'll continue the briefing at the Mountain."

"General, I cannot be expected to take everything I need to conduct autopsies with me, so I assume I will be bringing the bodies back here," Ducky said.

"No can do. Autopsies and all investigations will be done out of Cheyenne Mountain. If you come you belong to the Air Force, to me, for the duration of the investigation. Agreed?"

Jack's tone really didn't broker any argument but he did have the grace to smile a little at his friend when he spoke.

"You heard the man. Do we agree?" Gibbs asked the rest of the team.

"Yes, Boss." "Yes, Gibbs." "Ok, of course, Jethro." They were just the responses both Jack and Gibbs wanted.

"Ok ,gear up!" Gibbs ordered.

Everyone except Gibbs left the room to collect what they needed, all looking slightly stunned. Gibbs wanted to get more information from his old friend.

Jack had just finished his conversation with Hank when Gibbs walked over to him.

"So, Colonel," Gibbs started, using the title he had used once upon a time.

"Gunny."

"This is a bit out of left field."

"You have no idea."

"This all for real?"

"Scarily, yes. Took me a good two years to actually believe me when I told myself what I did for a living."

"I'll bet. So, I'm guessing we're not flying to Colorado, _General?_" He emphasised the new rank of the man in front of him who had always sworn he would never be 'The Man'.

"No. Well, at least not on any plane you've seen the Air Force flying."

"We have to have space to investigate. You do realise that?" Gibbs asked the obvious question.

"Yeah, you'll be free to work, but all your findings come back to me before they go anywhere near a JAG officer. Agreed?"

"Agreed. But one question: Are you guys going to do your own separate investigation?"

"Don't worry about what we'll be doing. You just investigate and find out who did this. If it ends up to be other worldly in origin, we'll deal with it." His tone said without words what dealing with it might involve.

Gibbs couldn't get his mind around the idea travelling to other planets, so decided not to think about that for the time being. "Ok, so, how've you been, O'Neill? Major General, that's quite a promotion!" Gibbs stood back and watched his once comrade and friend.

"Not bad. The programme keeps me on my toes. Just waiting for the chance to retire," Jack said nonchalantly.

"How's Charlie? He must be through college by now." Gibbs couldn't help but see the darkness that covered Jack's face.

"Eh, Charlie died, over 10 years ago now."

"Sorry, Sir."

"That's ok. You know how it is, though, don't you?" Jack asked carefully. He hadn't been there but he'd heard about the death of Gibbs' family. They both knew what it was like to lose family. Jack was just grateful that he'd been given a second chance with Sam. He wondered if Gibbs had also been given a second chance.

"You mind keeping that under wraps? No one here knows," Gibbs said.

"Sure, we all have secrets. Hell, I have so many I've forgotten most of them."

The others began to join them. Kate first - Gibbs could always rely on her to be organised - then Di'Nozzo and McGee, bickering as they came in. Abby and Ducky arrived together. Gibbs was a little worried that the Air Force would take one look at Abby and have her committed; she wore black with white lace trim round her top, her usual short skirt and big, heavy boots, and her coffin backpack was firmly in place.

"So, how are we getting to Colorado?" Kate asked, as Jack removed a transmitter from his pocket and spoke into it.

"Colonel, we're ready to beam up. There are seven of us. Do you have all the signals?"

"Yes, Sir," came a disembodied voice.

The group disappeared in a beam of light and found themselves in a strange room. Then, before they had a chance to take note of where they were, they disappeared again and found themselves in the briefing room at the SGC.

"Wow," Kate said.

"I think I feel sick," commented McGee.

"Suck it up, Probie, or these air force types are going to think they're better than us," DiNozzo said.

"We already know that," Jack muttered under his breath.

Gibbs took charge of the situation. "Right, let's get to work. DiNozzo, McGee, grab the gear. We'll need transport and a guide, General. Abby will also need somewhere to work and specialised equipment. And Dr Mallard here will need somewhere to conduct the autopsies."

"That's not a problem...Walter!" General Hank Landry came from his office, having seen the group arrive in the Briefing Room, and called down to the control room.

"Hello, Hank," Gibbs said. He should have known there was someone else involved in pulling his puppet strings.

"Gibbs, long time."

"Long time," Gibbs reiterated. You didn't have to be a genius to work out that there was more going on in the background here than they were letting on.

"General Landry, meet the team from NCIS," Jack said, indicating the group.

"Good of you to come so quickly."

"Not sure we had a choice," Tony mumbled from behind Gibbs, where he received another elbow in the ribs from Kate.

"It's good to meet you, Sir," Kate stated for the team, while Gibbs was eyeing the two Generals who were clearly working together, even although O'Neill had only just arrived.

Sgt Walter Harriman came up the stairs and stood a few steps behind General Landry. Hank turned and ordered, "Walter, collect the jeeps I ordered for Agent Gibbs and his team, and another driver, and take them wherever they need to go. And get them all base IDs at the Security Office."

"Yes, Sir." The Sergeant moved to follow the order.

"Oh, and Walter, put a call in for Colonel Carter," Jack jumped in as the Sergeant was leaving.

"Yes, Sir."

Jack turned to the strange Goth. "Ms Suito, if you'll wait here, Colonel Carter will be able to set you up with all the equipment you need."

"And Dr Mallard, by the time you get back from checking out the crime scenes the CMO will have organised somewhere for you to carry out the autopsies," Hank finished for Jack.

"Agent Gibbs, if you and your team would follow me." Walter indicated the way out of the room to the group.

Gibbs turned to look at Jack and Hank, not liking the way things were going; he liked being in control of an investigation, but in this case he felt left out of the loop. But both Generals simply nodded to him so, with a sigh, he turned to follow the Sergeant from the room. All the team except Abby followed him.

Walter stopped by the phone on the small guard table at the back of the room. After speaking for a few moments on the phone, he turned and reported, "Colonel Carter's on her way, Sir."

"Thanks, Walter." Jack turned to Abby. "Ms Suito, NCIS forensics, meet General Landry, the head of the SGC," Jack introduced.

Abby walked up and circled the new General, as if inspecting him. "So, General, the rumour is you can send people to other planets. Is it true?" She eyeballed him, using the techniques she'd learned from Gibbs.

"Yes, it's true," Hank replied casually.

"Cool, can I go?" she asked, full of excitement and clapping her hands.

"No," Jack said quickly before Hank even had the chance.

"General O'Neill, General Landry," Carter said on entering the room.

"Ah, Carter, good to see you. How ya been?" Jack asked, turning to her voice.

Sam smiled. He could always make her smile, no matter how serious the situation. "Fine, Sir, thank you. You asked to see me?"

Jack dragged his eyes from Sam. "Yes. Colonel Carter, this is Ms Suito, NCIS forensics. Can you find her a lab to work from? She'll need access to all the forensic equipment we have. We do have some?" Jack asked suddenly, feeling out of his comfort zone.

"Yes, Sir," Sam placated him. "I'll sort it out."

"Good! And don't forget to get her a base ID." Jack turned to Hank, "Ok, Hank, let's go to your office. Tell me everything."

Sam and Abby left and Hank and Jack went into Hank's office. It was going to be a very long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The team got out of the jeeps at the first crime scene. On the way there, Gibbs had ordered Tony to contact the local cops who'd secured all the scenes awaiting the team's arrival. They were waiting to hand over jurisdiction and Gibbs wanted to be sure that the person on the ground knew they were on their way. __

"DiNozzo, photos. Kate, sketches. McGee, check the perimeter," Gibbs barked out, as he took in the scene before him. He quickly conferred with the cop in charge and then went over to the body, being careful where he walked.

The body was still lying on the doorstep, where it had fallen. Fortunately, no family had been present when this Airman had been gunned down. Gibbs put on his gloves and knelt beside the Lieutenant. He quickly looked up and down the body, minutely taking note of everything that was externally visible, then carefully checked the man's pockets. He took out the air force ID. "Lieutenant John Andrews, what have you been up to?" he mumbled quietly to himself.

"Ah, Jethro, I thought I was the only one who talked to the dead," Ducky said, as he moved to the body.

"Correct, Ducky. I definitely leave that to you. What do you think?"

"Jethro, I have only just met our young friend. I will not know much until I can spend some quality time with him."

Ducky began his search of the body. It wasn't hard to work out the cause of death, with a bullet hole in the forehead and half the poor man's brains on the door mat. However, Ducky always looked for hidden causes. He looked up at Walter who had left the jeep and followed, to see if the team needed anything. "Sergeant, can you arrange the ambulance now?"

Ducky stood up and looked at Gibbs. "Jethro, there's nothing more I can do here. And at the moment I can't tell you any more than the obvious," he added, as he pointed to the hole in the man's forehead. "I won't know more until I do the autopsy. I'll just prepare him for transfer to the Mountain. How long do you think it will be before you'll be ready to move on?"

"We'll just have to wait for the Dream Team, Ducky," Gibbs said sarcastically, pointing to the others.

Out on the front lawn, Kate had finished sketching the crime scene and had moved to the other side of the yard to where McGee had been looking for evidence, although he hadn't had any luck. The place was clean.

"So, what's with you and Gibbs?" Tony asked, coming up behind Kate with the camera slung around his neck.

"What do you mean, Tony?" Kate replied, although she had a good idea what he was getting at.

"Well, two weeks ago you could do no wrong. Then last week he was biting your head off. And now, well, he's pretty much ignoring you."

Kate sighed; sometimes she hated that Tony was so good at his job.

"It's nothing. He's probably just missing his coffee." She tried to push away from him.

"Oh, no, this is more than coffee. This actually looks like Gibbs is mad at you. Have you been a naughty girl, Kate?"

"Tony, shut up and take your pictures," Kate snapped, causing Gibbs and McGee to look over at them.

"DiNozzo! Get it done. We have three more sites to go to," Gibbs barked.

Tony snapped the scene once more.

"Done, Boss. Probie, you finished?"

Tim simply looked at Tony, then walked over to Gibbs. "I'm done, Boss. Not much here, sorry."

"Kate?" Gibbs barked the question.

"I'm finished, Gibbs."

"Good, it's about time," he said, and stalked away.

"Of course it's only a lack of coffee, Kate. Any idiot can see that much." Tony passed her, leaving Kate feeling angry at him and hurt by Gibbs' attitude to her. This seriously needed to be dealt with.

The second scene had much the same evidence as the first: dead body, shot through the head, no trace evidence on site. The team dealt with it quickly, with Ducky bagging the second Lieutenant's body to join his friend in the back of the ambulance that was now following them around Colorado Springs.

When the team reached the home of Colonel Milton and his family, they pulled up behind another military jeep. Gibbs noticed people sitting in the front room of the house. He turned to Walter. "Sergeant, do you know who's in there with the family? I thought we'd be the first ones on the crime scene, and the first ones to interview the families."

"Ah, Sir, I believe that's General O'Neill and well... I can't see the other officer clearly, Sir." Walter answered, straining to see past the NCIS officer. He had a fair idea who it would be but he didn't want to speculate.

Gibbs got out of the jeep with a wry smile; he should have realised his friend would get involved with the families. Damn, he was good; he'd had the Sergeant take them to the two places where there were no witnesses first, while Jack himself had gone to a home where the family had been present when the murder had taken place.

Tony broke into his thoughts, as he also got out of the jeep. "So, do you think they're telling the wife to cooperate or to keep quiet?"

"Well, it would be helpful if we found out. I'll go and check in with the local LEO's and tell the General we're here and see what's going on. DiNozzo, photos. McGee, the perimeter then sketches." He turned to Kate and Ducky as they got out of the other jeep.

"Ducky, you know what to do."

"Yes, Jethro, of course. I'll get right on it."

"Kate, help McGee until I've spoken with the General and then join me when I interview her. I'll let you know when I'm ready for you." He walked brusquely away.

"On it, Boss," Kate mumbled as she passed him.

"Boss," Tony interrupted, "I know this is not the time but…"

"If you know it's not the time, why are you still standing here? Pictures, DiNozzo, pictures!" Gibbs cut through his senior agent's babble, not because he really needed to get on with the case so urgently, but more that he knew what Tony was going to ask: Why was he treating Kate like a Probie whom he hated? Well, he didn't have time to deal with that now and, even if he did, he certainly wouldn't be discussing it with DiNozzo. He watched Tony walk away, then checked that everyone was getting on with their assigned tasks, before glancing back at the people he could see through the front window.

Ducky was already examining the body. "Oh, you poor fellow. After all your trials, your family had to witness this. I do hope your children were spared this sight." He didn't notice the door opening behind him.

"What are your initial findings, Doctor?" O'Neill asked, stepping round the body as he left the house.

"Nothing worth reporting yet, General. I will keep you up to date when I get them back to the base."

"Good. Ms Scuito is organising you a space with our base CMO."

Gibbs walked over to the two men. "General, could I ask exactly what you're doing here?"

"You can ask but, since I'm a two star and not a suspect, you can't expect a full answer," Jack said irreverently, not noticing the female officer listening to their conversation from the doorway.

"General, I believe you told Agent Gibbs that you'd cooperate," she said.

Gibbs turned and was pretty blown away by the Colonel. "Why, thank you Ma'am. Cooperation would be helpful."

Out on the lawn the other two men glanced at the two officers who had left the house. "Wow, look at that Air Force babe, McProbie!" DiNozzo spoke in awe.

"Tony, keep your voice down!" McGee muttered quietly. "I thought the General said they'd kill you if they heard you talk like that."

"I know, which is why I'm over here, not there. But would you look at the legs on her? Not to mention how good that jacket looks on her."

"You are unbelievable, Tony."

"I know, but can I help it that women are attracted to me all the time? Time for an introduction, I think."

Tony walked across the yard to the group at the door, passing Kate on the way. The female had come down the steps from the house and was being introduced to Gibbs and Ducky.

"It is very nice to meet you, Colonel," he heard Ducky say. Gibbs just nodded at the woman.

Tony stopped walking. A Colonel! Now Tony liked powerful women but maybe a Colonel was a little out of his league.

"Definitely, Tony, way out of your league," Kate's voice came from behind him and for a second Tony panicked that he had spoken aloud.

"It's a good job we don't do undercover much, Tony. I can read your thoughts like a book."

"Well, we'll soon see about that," Tony muttered, as he strode over to Gibbs. He'd show Kate.

"Boss, not much here. You want me to ask around, see if anyone can give us anything useful?" He wanted to appear official, 100 percent focussed on the job; it wouldn't hurt to show the Colonel that he could do his job well.

"Not just yet, DiNozzo, maybe later," Gibbs all but dismissed him. But Tony was persistent and held out his hand to the Colonel.

"Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, ma'am. And you are?" Tony threw out all the charm.

"Colonel Carter," Sam said, about to hold out her hand.

"Down, DiNozzo," Jack growled at the NCIS agent, who pulled his hand back as if it had been burnt.

Sam just smiled at Tony, blushing a little at Jack's response to the situation, then turned to leave, looking at Gibbs. "I'll see you all back at the Mountain." She took one last sad look at the body lying in the doorway, at the officer she'd known, then looked back at the group. She smiled slightly in farewell, then turned to Jack. "Are you coming, General?"

"Yeah, be right with you." Jack turned to Gibbs. "Well, we're out of here. It's all yours. Let me know if you get any leads, Gibbs. We'll see you all later." He turned and left the group and followed Sam to their waiting jeep. He gave a sloppy salute to Walter as he passed him in his jeep - an acknowledgement that Walter had done a good job. They'd been able to spend over 30 minutes with Mrs Milton without interruption and could move on to the next scene - the one Sam was dreading - without the NCIS getting there first. Jack knew he could always rely on Walter and, if they finished interviewing Mrs Milton quickly, he knew Walter would take the scenic route on his way to the final site.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews and the people who have put the story on alert. Hope this meets with your approval. By the way my Beta deserves all the credit for this chapter - the first draft (which I thought was done) made no sense what so ever.

So Enjoy.

Chapter 4

Jack and Sam headed for Stacy Marshall's house next. As at the previous house, they noticed the local police guarding the crime scene, keeping onlookers well away. However, Jack didn't see any of their own men; he thought they would have been there by now. He and Sam waited in the car as they had at the Milton house, while the SFs who were accompanying them quickly briefed the policeman in charge before checking the house perimeter.

Much to Jack's disgust, Hank had insisted that they take a security detail with them. Apparently it was SOP with a high-ranking General, ie. him, when dealing with mass murder, particularly when the unknown assailants were still on the loose. Landry didn't want to be the one to have to explain to the President if something were to happen to Jack. Well, after his conversation with the President only a few hours ago, Jack could understand the sentiment. The only thing that had encouraged Jack to agree, however, was that Sam was with him. He would never tell her this because he knew she could take care of herself but he felt better knowing the airmen were watching their six.

Jack and Sam stepped out of the Jeep as the airmen returned.

"Are we clear, Airmen?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Sir. There's the officer by the body as you can see, and one at each entrance to the street, keeping onlookers and the press back, although they're having a bit of trouble doing that. Word seems to be out."

"What about our own men? I thought they would have been here by now," Jack interrupted.

"They've now been briefed back at the base and are en route and will lock down the area when they get here. We've checked the backyard and everything seems to be in order. And the police said that there have been no unusual sightings since the shooting."

"Thank you, Airman."

"Sir, the officer asked you to enter from the back and not to interfere with the scene. He has orders to only sign over to NCIS. I think he could be a newbie and wants to stick to the rules."

"That's ok. We don't want to interfere, anyway. You two wait here for our men to arrive while Colonel Carter and I go and speak with Captain Marshall's husband." Unlike the last house, Jack didn't want the SFs to be there when they spoke with Stacy's husband; it would be hard enough for Sam as it was.

"With all due respect, Sir, you know we have to stay with you.

Jack looked at Sam, who was staring at the plastic-covered lump on the doorstep that was her friend. Jack had known Sam was friendly with her; only last week she had been laughing about a trip to the Mall with Stacy and Vala. Jack smiled briefly at the memory. He hated losing people in the field but it was even worse when Sam felt that pain. He would do anything to prevent that.

"Okay, Airmen, but you can wait outside the backdoor while we're talking to her husband." He turned to Sam. "C'mon, let's go inside," he urged her quietly, taking her elbow.

As they made their way across the yard to the side gate, Jack nodded to the police officer who nodded back. They went around to the back where they found Alastair, Stacy's husband, sitting in the kitchen, staring into space. When Alistair heard them at the door, he looked up, confused, before he recognised Sam and got up to let them in. Sam went in first and hugged him. Alistair hung on to Sam like a drowning man hugging a life preserver, unwilling to let go.

Jack let them have a private moment, turning to the two SFs. "You men keep an eye out. We'll let you know if we need anything."

"Yes, Sir."

Jack turned and hesitated a moment before going inside. He could see that Sam was barely holding it together, quietly talking with Stacy's husband.

"Alastair, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks, Sam." Alastair managed to get his emotions under control with great effort, then let go of Sam, although Sam still had one hand resting lightly on his arm. He looked haggard.

Jack could see Sam pulling herself together, standing up straight, putting on her best air force demeanour. She looked at him for a moment, their eyes locking, sympathy conveyed, before she gestured towards Jack and quietly said, "Alastair, this is General Jack O'Neill. He works out of the Pentagon and is in overall charge of the mountain."

Alastair glanced at Jack, before looking back at Sam. "I thought it was Landry."

Jack jumped in before Sam could reply, "Landry's in charge here at the mountain. I just get to be the lucky one in charge of four bases." He held his hand out and, after a moment of confused hesitation, Alastair shook it. "Mr Marshall, I'm very sorry for your loss. I only met Stacy a couple of times but she was an excellent airman and was very dedicated to her work."

"Thank you, General," Alastair started, when Jack interrupted him.

"Please, call me Jack."

"Okay, General, um, Jack. Yeah, she was, wanted to make Colonel someday like Sam." He looked at Sam. "You were her hero, Sam. Did you know that?"

"I guessed," Sam whispered.

"She was always talking about how amazing you were, how brilliant, figuring out all the science stuff that was so over my head it could have been in a jet." He smiled to himself, staring out the window, obviously remembering a private memory.

"She was brilliant," Sam stated.

"Yeah, she was." Alastair mentally shook himself, bringing himself back to the present. "So, who did this?"

"We don't know yet but we're working on it, as are NCIS. We'll find whoever did this, Alastair," Sam said emphatically.

"Is it something to do with the Mountain?" he asked.

Jack thought he'd jump in here. "Well, we feel it has to be. Her whole team were taken out at the same time. It was an organised hit," Jack stated. For once, members of his command had died somewhere that allowed him to divulge at least a little information to their families.

"Then you should see something. Come with me." Alastair turned, walked through the family room to the kitchen, and opened a small door that looked like a cupboard, only it wasn't. It was access to the basement.

"When we got married Stacy insisted we bought a house with a basement. She said she'd feel more comfortable working down there instead of in a room where people could see in. I didn't know what she was working on and, to be honest, she really didn't like me going down there, but you should take a look around." He waved his arm and the motion-sensor light came on. He then typed a code into the panel at the side.

"She was worried someone would try to get in. She changed the code every day then told me over breakfast in case of emergencies. I thought she was being paranoid but after today, well..." Alastair broke off, looking down, obviously trying to get his emotions under control. Sam and Jack glanced at each other before looking away from the man before them, allowing him a private moment to pull himself together. Alistair finally took a deep breath, let it out, then slowly looked back at the two officers. "Feel free to look and take anything you feel is too sensitive to stay here. Should I mention this place to NCIS? Do they have the clearance?" For someone who had only been married to the military, he had a pretty clear idea of the stakes involved in what his wife had been doing.

"Let's see what we find and cross that bridge when NCIS drive over it," Jack said with his usual irreverence, although Alistair didn't seem to notice.

"Ok, follow me."

The trio walked down the narrow stairs into what looked to Jack like a fully functioning lab. He looked around the area, quickly taking everything in. "Carter, work out what she was doing down here and, more importantly, if she should have been doing it and where any materials have come from. If you need to move anything, let the SFs take care of it," Jack ordered.

Sam knew what he wanted: had Stacy been stupid enough to bring materials back from other planets, then actually bring them home? She was sure that General Landry wouldn't have authorised anything, even if it was a secret mission only for SG7.

Sam set up at Stacy's computer and tried to stop herself from looking at the photos pinned to the boards above the work desk. She refused to believe that her friend and the rest of SG7 were doing anything wrong but she knew there had to be a reason for their deaths. She was aware of movement behind her, before hearing Jack talking quietly to Alastair.

"Alastair, let's leave all the science stuff to Sam. Is there somewhere we can talk about this morning?"

"Sure, we can go back up to the kitchen." Alastair turned and trudged back up to the main part of the house. Jack could only imagine what he was feeling. He had lost Charlie then driven Sara away, but he thought that if he lost Sam he might truly die. He expected that was how Alastair was feeling right about now.

They walked into the kitchen and Jack sat at the breakfast bar while Alastair fussed with making coffee.

"Helps to keep busy," Alastair said, somewhere between the mugs and the kettle.

"Can you walk me through what happened this morning?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I think so." Alastair didn't look at Jack, but just kept methodically making the coffee.

"Just tell me what you remember. If you don't remember something, just say so. But don't leave anything out; even the smallest, insignificant detail may be important. NCIS will want to interview you and if they find that you've left something out it might look bad. So just recount everything that you can remember.

"This morning was a typical weekday," Alastair started. "We got up around 6. Stacy went for a run while I went for a shower. When she came back she said that her spider sense had been tingling, as if someone had been watching her. To be honest I didn't think a lot of it. We joked that it was a secret admirer for one of us." He smiled, clearly remembering the conversation, but then his face dropped, desolation clearly visible.

"It's ok, Alastair. Just take a moment then try to keep going," Jack said, shuffling his body on the seat, as usual uncomfortable when having to deal with any sort of emotion.

"About 7.30 Stacy received a call from Lieutenant Andrews to say that General Landry had pushed a briefing back to 10. It was my morning to be late into the office so, well, we decided to go back to bed." Alastair went a little red; it wasn't every day that you had to discuss married life with a high-ranking General.

Jack, on the other hand, had almost ignored the bed comment, focussing on the phone call; Hank had not mentioned calling the team, neither had Susan Milton, although she had been upstairs asleep then bathing the kids all morning and had no information to give them, she had heard the shot and then spent the rest of the morning trying to stop the kids seeing their father's body.

"How long did the phone call last?"

Alistair shrugged. "Not sure. I was out of the room but I heard Stacy's voice for a couple of minutes. They seemed to be discussing the mission they'd been on. Well, maybe not. She used lots of code names. I assume the Air Force didn't send a group of highly trained Marines to Wal-Mart on their way to Montana to interview some native people?"

Jack had to smile. The each-planet-equals-a-different-state phone discussions had originated with him and Daniel many years before. "No, they hadn't been to Montana, but are you sure they talked about Wal-Mart in the code? They hadn't just planned to buy supplies?"

"No, I thought it was a bit odd. She kept saying that they had to wait to hear from Wal-Mart. I assumed it was a code name for General Landry or someone higher up."

"Ok, so you both went back to bed. When did you get up again?" Jack asked.

"Must have been about 8.45. Stacy quickly jumped in the shower again and went downstairs. I was just about to get washed and dressed when I heard the doorbell ringing. I looked out the bedroom window as Stacy opened the front door. There was a man at the door. He asked Stacy if she was who she was. When she said yes the man pulled out a gun and... shot her," the last two words barely more than a whisper. Alastair, who had been staring out of the window holding the coffee jar while talking, almost jumped as he dropped the jar back on the work bench.

Jack was silent for a moment. He had seen Sam almost killed too many times to not be able to imagine the scene with her in it. He gave himself an internal shake; there was definitely a reason for the regs to be in place. "Can you tell me about the man, any distinguishing features?"

Alastair looked out through the kitchen window, thinking. "Pretty tall, white, short dark hair, had a weird mark on his forehead, but I didn't get a close enough look. Well dressed but not a suit. That's about it." He looked at Jack. "To be honest, I'm not even sure if I could pick him out again. It's all a bit of a blur. I ran down the stairs but it was too late, she was gone, and so was her killer. There was no point in calling an ambulance, I... I could see that. I called the cops and the base." He stopped speaking and Jack could tell that he knew no more.

"Thanks, Alastair, you've done well to remember that. Most people would struggle to remember anything. Listen, that'll do for now. You can tell all of that to NCIS. Let them trace that phone call and we'll see if Sam wants them in the basement." Jack stood up, ready to move and find Sam.

"General, you _will_ find this bastard?" Alastair said with venom, looking directly at Jack.

"I will do everything in my power, you have my word," Jack answered seriously, looking at the stricken man.

"You're the one Sam's with, aren't you?" Alastair suddenly asked out of the blue, totally shocking Jack, before continuing. "When we got married, Sam was there with Daniel and Teal'c, I think. Stacy said she thought it was sad that Sam's guy couldn't come. Said he was someone important in Washington."

Jack didn't want to deny it to this young man but was aware that very few people knew. He was surprised that Stacy had been one, but Vala was and she struggled to keep a secret. He didn't know what to say.

"Can you promise me that you'll do as much as you'd do if it was Sam lying there in the doorway?" Alastair demanded, eyeballing Jack.

Jack looked at him and did the only thing he could; the man had seen right through him and now needed reassurance. "I promise," he said forcefully.

Sam appeared behind Jack. "General, we might have a problem," Sam spoke quietly to him.

"Do you need to secure the lab?" Jack enquired.

"No, that won't be necessary, but I'll need to remove some items and her computer. _Way_ above top secret."

"Ok, do what you need to do, Carter. Get the boys from outside to help you."

"Yes, Sir." Sam went to the back door and quietly called to the two SFs, who were carefully scanning the perimeter. She beckoned them inside then led the way downstairs, gently putting a hand on Alastair's arm as she passed him. The three of them went downstairs to collect what was not supposed to be in the basement of a residential house.

Jack turned back to Alastair. "You really have no idea what Stacy was working on?"

"Sorry, no. The only thing I know is that it was serious science and that she was working downstairs with the rest of her team."

"Her team came here to work?" Jack asked, more than a little surprised.

"Not fully for work, no. But pretty much every week since we moved in they'd come over, spend about an hour down there, then come up and watch a movie. Stacy said it was something most teams did."

Movie night was yet another tradition started by Jack and Daniel, but SG1 never did any work on their movie nights, Jack thought. "Ok, when was the last time they were here?"

"Just before their last mission. Last Monday night I think it was."

"Ok, hopefully Sam will find out what they were working on. Thanks for all your help."

"Do I tell NCIS you've removed some material?"

"No need," Jack said looking out the window, "I'll tell them myself."

The two SFs came up the stairs. One was laden down with a laptop, notes and a file Alastair had seen lying around before. The other was carrying a large box.

"Take everything to the Jeep," Sam ordered quietly as she entered the kitchen behind the two men, "And stay with it. We don't want anything to go missing."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The two men left by the back door. Sam looked at Jack. "I'm just going to go and check that I haven't missed anything down there."

Jack simply nodded. "I'll make sure everything's secured." He went into the family room to watch the SF's through the window, checking that the material was safely stored, while Sam went back downstairs, leaving Alastair staring out the window.

Once everything had been stowed securely, the SF's got into the vehicle to wait for Sam and Jack. As Jack was about to go back to the kitchen, Alastair joined him. They noticed two Jeeps and an air force ambulance pull up at the sidewalk. They watched from inside the house as five people got out of the Jeeps.

"That them?" Alastair asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yup. You can trust them, Alastair, best the Navy and Marine Corps has," Jack said honestly, although he winced when Tony started taking photos of McGee falling out of the Jeep.

"Really? The best?" Alastair didn't seem convinced.

"Don't let them fool you. Their boss is the best and I'd trust him with my life. I know they'll solve this and I know we'll get the people who did this." Jack headed back to the basement. "Sam, we have to go, we're about to have investigative company," he called out.

"Coming, Sir," Sam yelled, and appeared holding a small notebook that she put in her jacket pocket.

Jack looked at Sam, then tilted his head in Alastair's direction. Sam turned to Alastair to give him a final hug of sympathy.

"Goodbye, Alastair. I'm so sorry about Stacy. We'll do everything we can to find who did this."

Alastair looked at Jack over Sam's shoulder. Jack simply nodded in acknowledgement, before lightly touching Sam's arm. "Time to go, Carter."

Jack guided Sam to the back door and they made their way around the house. As they passed through the side gate, Jack noticed Gibbs looking down at Stacy's body, which they'd already uncovered, with DiNozzo taking photos. The other two members of the team were carefully walking around the front garden, one sketching the scene while the other seemed to be looking for evidence. He hoped they found something this time. He looked sideways at Sam, having noticed that she'd stopped. He put one hand gently on the small of her back. "Ok, Carter?"

Sam stood up straight and looked at Jack. "Yes, Sir. I'm fine, Sir."

"It's ok to be disturbed by all this. I know Stacy was a friend."

"I'm fine, Sir. Shall we?" and Sam gestured to where Gibbs was standing.

Jack took one more careful look at Sam before removing his hand, albeit reluctantly. He led the way over to Gibbs, not noticing DiNozzo watching them carefully.

"Gibbs, we're done here. Alastair is waiting for you. We'll debrief back at the Mountain when you're done."

Before Gibbs had a chance to reply, DiNozzo piped in, "General, good to see you. You done covering up the witness' statement?"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked before Jack had the chance to say anything.

Jack gave Tony the look that usually had airmen quivering in their boots. "Just for the record, DiNozzo, we don't plan on whitewashing anything. But if things do get awkward, I can make you disappear in the most imaginative of ways," he threatened, quietly causing Tony to gulp noticeably.

Kate had just walked up behind them. She smirked at the General's comeback, looking at Tony, then stopped when she noticed Gibbs glaring at her. Just exactly when was he going to stop treating her like dirt?

"General," Sam said from beside Jack, touching him discretely on the arm to get his attention.

She nodded to the Jeeps, she was dreading it but she needed to get back to start looking at everything she'd removed from the basement.

"Right, let's go, Carter. See you back at the ranch, Gibbs." Gibbs and his team stood back, making room for them to pass. Sam took one final look at her friend's body, still lying there in the doorway, before turning and following Jack.

"I don't care what you say, there's definitely something weird going on there," Kate resumed the discussion she and Tony had had in the Jeep on their way here, as they watched Jack and Sam get into their Jeep.

"They do look quite close," McGee acknowledged, joining the others in the middle of the yard.

"Nah, she'd never be with him," Tony volunteered.

"I don't know, Tony. I've seen stranger couples," McGee added.

"I'm with Tim," Kate agreed. "There's just something about them."

Gibbs, who had not travelled with the younger agents, was not impressed with the direction of their conversation. "If you three are done discussing the General's social life, maybe you could get on with your work."

"Yes, Boss," they all responded.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"So, what do we know so far?" Daniel quizzed Jack and Sam, as they were sitting around her lab bench with the rest of SG-1.

"Not much: four members of one team taken out; all at the same time; hardly any witnesses; a call was made to at least one team member; some science doohickies that were in the wrong place; and, oddly, some message about Wal-Mart," Jack succinctly told the group, counting off on his fingers.

"You're right, not much," Daniel concurred.

"Are we able to try and trace the phone calls or do we have to leave that to NCIS?" Cam Mitchell asked his superior.

"No, I think it would be better to allow NCIS a shot at it first. That way it'll look less like we're trying to cover something up."

"Can we at least confirm if General Landry did postpone a meeting?" Daniel asked.

"Already done. He knows nothing about it."

"Ok, so, assuming SG-7 were at least a little like us, they'd usually come to work quite early. Can we check that out?" Sam asked.

"Mitchell, call the check-in desk and get reports on SG-7 and their work hours. Sam, go through Stacy's computer and confiscate the rest of the team's computers if you feel it necessary. Vala, go make friends with the male agents, McGee and DiNozzo. See if you can get anything from them once they get back. You may use all the talents at your disposal." Vala grinned at the group. "Daniel, try thinking outside the box. Work out what the hell 'Wal-Mart' can mean," Jack ordered.

"What do you wish of me, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"You, Teal'c, are coming with me to watch and listen while Gibbs reports in."

"Very well. How will I be of service?"

"Teal'c, it's of no surprise that I suck at reading between the lines. You're going to work out the subtext of what Gibbs and his team are saying."

"As you wish, O'Neill."

"Right. Let's get on with it."

* * *

Sam was left staring at the computer in front of her after all the others had left. If she could do just about anything else at this moment she would, and that included going head to head with any of the System Lords, or spending the day explaining quantum physics to her once boss, now fiancé. She would willingly do anything rather than sit at this computer and potentially prove that her comrade, fellow scientist and friend was a traitor to everything Sam held dear. But Sam would follow orders; she would search the computer, look over all the files, remove the pieces of alien technology she had put into the box at the house, and report back to Jack. There were times when she really hated her job.

* * *

Mitchell was having more luck. He was able to confirm, with only a brief phone call, that SG7 were very similar to SG1. By that he meant that they had very little life outside the mountain. Ok, so they were not as bad as his other team mates, who'd made loving their work into a religion, but they did spend many hours on the base. Over the last month all the members had shown up for work, on the days they were on duty, well before 0800. Two of the team, Andrews and Marshall, had even kept the same hours when they were off duty. Cam figured that Alastair Marshall must have a full time job for his wife of 3 months to still be coming in to the base the hours she was. The team generally stayed on base until after 1800, all except the Colonel, who'd left earlier some nights to spend time with his kids.

However, Cam was also able to find out that the schedule that the team had kept to seemed to have been blown out of the water since their return from their last mission. They'd had two days of downtime, which they had all taken, with none of the team appearing on the base at all. Cam had already confirmed with Carolyn, the base CMO, that none of them had been injured, so there was no forced reason for remaining off the base. Once they were back on duty, only Captain Marshall, Sam's friend, had been on the base for her usual hours. The others had arrived then signed out, Lieutenant Millar signing back in but the others remaining off the base for the rest of the day. The only thing Cam could conclude was that something was up. He'd have to do a bit more digging, get some traces done on their vehicles or credit cards, but there was no work reason why they'd been off the base, unless they 'd been up to something.

* * *

Vala Mal Doran was the newest member of SG1 and, as such, felt very privileged that she'd been given this assignment. Not only had she been ordered to do this but the order had come from the boss above her boss, General O'Neill. She needed to make sure that she did this job very well to ensure that she remained on the elite team in the Mountain. So, to that end, she was sitting in the commissary with her new dress on, the one that had made Daniel nearly choke on his coffee when he had seen it due to the excess cleavage it showed. She had her hair in bunches - it always drove Colonel Mitchell wild when she played with her hair - and she was swinging her legs under the table. Oh yes, did she forget to mention she was on top of the table, right opposite the entrance? No one could fail to miss her. Unsurprisingly, when Tim McGee and Tony DiNozzo came through the door they stopped in their tracks.

"Hello, boys, what are nice men like you doing in a place like this?" Vala cooed, wrapping her hair round her finger and generally giving the impression of an innocent school girl.

"Whoa," Tony breathed, coming to an abrupt halt just inside the doorway.

"Oh, boy," Tim said, rolling his eyes at Tony.

"What did I tell you, McGee?" Tony said under his breath, "Air force babes are going to be unable to resist the DiNozzo charm."

"Now, boys, didn't your mother tell you it was rude to talk about someone behind their back?"

"No, but their boss told them it was stupid to lose focus in the middle of a case," Kate broke in, breezing past the boys to get to the coffee machine.

Although Vala had no qualms about flirting with the men in front of the female agent, she was a little taken aback at the way the men jumped to attention when she had appeared, and, if truth be known, she was a bit put out. But she was more than enough to keep their attention from the other agent. She swished her hair and winked at Tony, only momentarily side tracked from her mission.

"So, is there anything you need to ask me? Any questions? A statement? Maybe a test to find out what I know?" she purred, and Tony immediately became like putty in her hands, while Tim and Kate both rolled their eyes.

"Tony, I think you're more than capable of dealing with this. Tim and I are off to help Abby," Kate said, as she walked out of the room.

"What? Oh, yeah, see you guys later," Tony mumbled without turning around, wholly focussed on the vision before him.

"Now, Miss..." Tony started.

"You can call me Vala, all my good friends do."

Tony sat down in the chair almost in front of Vala and his eyes almost came out of his head as he realised the excellent view he was getting of this air force babe. "Oh, um, yes, Vala, um, yeah..." Tony shook himself, trying to get back to the mission at hand. "Um, what can you tell me about this situation?"

"Well, _gorgeous_, as for what I know, well, I would really prefer it if we shared information. So, I'll tell one thing, then it has to be your turn. Deal?"

"Oh, I'll tell you anything you want!" Tony practically drooled.

"Well, Mister secret agent man, why not start with your name? I told you mine, so now it's your turn to tell me yours." Vala batted her eyelids at Tony and smiled her sexiest smile.

As Tony looked up into her eyes Vala began to see that this job was one she would be fantastic at.

* * *

Daniel, meanwhile, was stumped. He'd gone over what Alastair had told Jack time and time again. He'd said Stacy had talked about visiting Wal-Mart before going to Montana and that they were waiting for Wal-Mart to come to a decision.

So, logical explanation number 1: for some reason only known to the team they genuinely were picking some goods up at the local store and needed to do it before their next mission. But Jack had been right; the team was not, nor ever had been, visiting Montana, so that had to be code for a planet. That fitted the first part but made no sense as to why the store had to come to a decision. Even he didn't believe Wal-Mart was powerful enough to make a decision to effect the lives of four bright marines.

Right, so, explanation number 2: Wal-Mart was a code name for another place. It had to be a secret place, or else why use the odd code name. So, did that mean it was a place not on Earth, but another planet? Possible, but why were they going there before going to "Montana"? And, again, another planet can't make a decision.

So, logically, Wal-Mart had to be a person; they needed to see a person before their mission who had to make a decision. But why the code name? Someone who was a secret, whom Stacy didn't want Alastair to be able to tell anyone about, someone not on earth? The possibilities were jumping around in Daniel's mind and he had to lay his head on the table.

"So, Daniel, how is 'out of the box' going?" Sam asked, coming into his lab.

"Not good. What have you found?" he replied, with his head still firmly on the bench.

"SG7 were into some serious deals, or at least I think they were. Most of what they have in the computer is in code."

Daniel finally looked up from the bench, then sat up. "What about the materials you brought back from Stacy's?"

"There were a couple of bits of alien technology - she shouldn't have had it out of the base - but the rest of the material is a bit confusing. It really doesn't point to anything".

"Do you think that NCIS are doing better than us?"

"Honestly? I doubt it. They might be good at investigating but the whole other planets thing is probably sending them for a loop."

"Yeah. I met the forensic specialist. She seemed very keen to know everything about the program. If I thought _Vala_ was too much, then working with her would be an even wilder ride!"

Sam smiled for a split second at Daniel's observations. "Oh, yeah! You should have seen what she was like when I was getting her set up in a lab! And the others weren't much better. But I have to admit, she seemed to know what she was doing. She certainly knows her way around all the equipment." Sam sighed. "I just hope Jack knows what he's doing."

"He seems to trust this Gibbs guy. How does he know him, anyway?"

"He didn't tell me everything, but they knew each other and Landry back in Kuwait. Jack was on special ops, Landry was his air force contact, and Gibbs went somewhere deep in the desert with Jack. I imagine we could be shot for just knowing that much," Sam surmised, thinking of the conversation she had had with Jack while travelling from Colonel Milton's house to Stacy's.

"So, Jack has him working the case because he trusts him to find the truth and not play games?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, let's hope they have more leads than we do," Daniel said, putting his head back on the bench.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi folks, thanks for the reviews and following the story. Hope you enjoy the continuing adventures.

Chapter 6

"Ok, Gibbs, what have you got?" Jack asked, as he and Teal'c entered the isolation/autopsy room where the NCIS team had gathered. Ducky was bent over the first body, and the others were standing to one side discussing the case. Gibbs looked over at the General's words.

"Well, General, not much more than you already know," he answered.

Jack raised an eyebrow à la Teal'c and looked at Gibbs with a questioning look. Teal'c simply tilted his head to one side.

Ducky butted in, exasperated. "General, as I have just informed Jethro, it will take me several hours to discover anything more than that they were all shot," he said quite snippily. "And even longer before I have any results from all four autopsies."

"I guessed as much, Doctor," Jack tried to placate the small doctor.

However, Ducky still had a point to make. "I usually have help, you know."

Jack smirked at the man. "Duly noted, Doctor. Ok, I'll see what I can do about getting you some help."

"Thank you, General, that would be most appreciated."

Jack looked back at Gibbs. "I'd assumed your crack investigative team mates would have other information to report," he said irreverently.

"Give us some time, General. We'll find you when we've reviewed all the evidence," Gibbs said, unusually polite.

"Be sure that you do. Just check with the SFs at the end of the corridor. They'll know where you can find me. Come on, Teal'c," Jack said, and started to walk out of the room. Teal'c made his usual small bow in farewell before following Jack. However, Gibbs stopped them just as they reached the door.

"By the way, why _do _we have SFs there? Are they there to keep others out? Or to keep us in?"

Jack turned to face Gibbs, an enigmatic smile on his face. "Oh, nothing like that, Gunny. They're just there to help you if you need anything and to make sure you don't lose your way if you start wandering around the base. Every corridor here looks the same as all the others and we don't want to lose any of you. Just think of them as your personal guides, gophers even." And with that Jack and Teal'c left the room.

"What was that all about?" Tony asked no one in particular.

"Nothing you need concern yourself withy, DiNozzo," Gibbs answered, although he was wondering the same thing himself. "Ok, you heard the man! Ideas? Theories?" he asked the rest of his team who had moved to stools at the other end of the room, while Ducky continued on with his work.

"Well, it was obviously a planned hit," McGee started, acutely aware of the look on his boss' face, which said that the person who did not come up with a theory would be doing ship duty for the next six months.

"Really, McGee?" Gibbs responded sarcastically, before looking at the rest of them. "Does anyone have something to add that is _not_ completely obvious?"

"Well, assuming the phone call was important, it seems to have been a ploy to get the team to remain at home so the hit could be carried out," Tony tried.

"Ok, so, we trace the calls. McGee call..."

"Already done, Boss, Abby's working on it," McGee jumped in, keen to avoid agent-afloat status.

"So, Kate, _you_ have anything to add?" Gibbs was frustrated with the total lack of evidence they'd found at the scenes and the dearth of leads, so decided to take his frustration out on Kate.

Kate stood up straight, determined not to let Gibbs' attitude intimidate her. "At the last house, the husband, he seemed to know more than he was saying. He wasn't lying, though, I'm sure of that, but I also think he didn't tell us everything."

"Agent Todd, it would have been useful if you'd mentioned that earlier," Gibbs snapped. Even Tony winced, never mind Kate.

"Sorry, Agent Gibbs, it was only on reflection that I came to that conclusion," Kate all but shouted back.

There was a pause; it was beginning to be quite uncomfortable as Kate and Gibbs tried to win a staring contest. Tony always hated awkward silences.

"Ok, so, any thoughts about what he could be keeping from us?" Tony blurted out, and was quite relieved when Kate, at least, turned to look at him.

"Well, I think he was forced to not say anything by the General and the female Colonel. Maybe it's something about them?"

Ignoring Kate, McGee spoke, looking at Gibbs. "Boss, why were they there, anyway? Why would the General call us in if he planned to investigate himself and cover up anything he didn't want leaking out?" McGee asked.

Tony jumped in. "Oh, wake up and smell the top secret facility, McProbie. All he has to do is say the word and we get kept here indefinitely or, worse, sent to one of the many nasty planets he's visited. We're here to make it look like things are being done properly, nothing more," Tony finished with a flourish of his hand.

"General O'Neill isn't like that, DiNozzo," Gibbs responded gruffly, still uncharacteristically seething at Kate, "but I would take his threat seriously." Gibbs turned his back slightly to the group, if only to contain his anger. "No, if the husband _was_ hiding something it has to be because of National Security."

"National Security?" Kate questioned, clearly not buying that explanation.

"Yes, Agent Todd, National Security, or were you not listening when the General briefed us earlier?"

"Gibbs, you can't seriously be suggesting that the husband would prevent us from finding his wife's killer because of a programme he clearly knows nothing about?"

"You were the one who suggested he was hiding something."

"And you're the one convinced that O'Neill is above a cover up!" she barked back, her anger palpable.

Tony interrupted, but not before making sure he was out of punching reach of both of them. "So, maybe _both_ of them are lying."

Gibbs glared at his senior field agent.

Kate didn't give up. "I agree with Tony. He could have lied to the General. If we assume Alastair Marshall was involved, he could easily have a motive for killing his wife. Maybe the others, too?" Kate asked, squaring up for a fight with Gibbs.

"Yes, Agent Todd, he could have lied, but if you think you're a good profiler, you haven't met General O'Neill. He's black ops trained and is fully capable of recognising a lie when faced with one. If the husband _had_ lied, he wouldn't be at home but here because O'Neill would know." Gibbs now moved to be toe to toe with Kate, both getting angrier by the second.

"But O'Neill could be lying, _too_," Kate stated, exasperated.

"I have just explained why that is _not_ the case," Gibbs answered menacingly.

Tony and McGee looked on. Without taking his eyes off Kate and Gibbs, Tony muttered to McGee under his breath, "Where's the popcorn when you need it?"

Neither Kate nor Gibbs heard him, and Kate kept questioning Gibbs. "Look, Gibbs, it has to have been years since you knew this guy. Maybe he's changed, maybe lost his edge?"

"Have you ever been so out of your comfort zone, Agent Todd, that you had to trust the people with you or you'd die?"

"No, Boss," Kate responded.

"Then you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"This is not some faraway place where you need to trust your comrades, Gibbs. Maybe he's under orders."

"It doesn't need to be far away. I know O'Neill and even under orders I _know_ he wouldn't cover something up unless it was so top secret you needed an elevator to get to the right level."

"Eh, guys," Tony thought he'd better butt in before things escalated. "Much as I feel you need to resolve whatever's going on between you two, maybe here's not the right place. Anyway, Abby has something for us," he added, after spotting Abby coming through the doorway.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, you didn't come to my lab when I found something. I _never_ have to find you! You always come. It's kind of eerie."

"Abby, cut to the chase. What is it?" Gibbs was not in the mood to put up with Abby's usual exuberance.

Abby looked around, checking out the room and the observation room above while she walked over to Gibbs, noticing the camera in the corner, then leaned in and whispered, "Gibbs, I'm not talking like this. Do you have any idea how many people could be listening?" She looked up at the camera, trying to subtly point it out to Gibbs.

McGee noticed Gibbs looking up at the camera. "It's ok, Boss, the SFs said they'd cut the sound to the cameras. General Landry wanted us to feel free to discuss anything without... eavesdroppers," McGee finished explaining quite lamely.

"McGee, you don't just believe something like that, you need to check!" Abby said incredulously, then dropped her voice again. "I swept my lab, Gibbs - no bugs or extra cameras there." She stared intently at Gibbs.

"Ok, where's your lab?" Gibbs gave in, knowing it would be the only way to keep the discussion going without Abby going off on a tangent.

"Just down the corridor. It's cool, Gibbs, wait 'til you see it! It's got lots of really cool advanced machines. They could even be from outer space! Can you imagine?" Abby was almost jumping up and down on the spot, she was so excited. "It's unbelievab..." she started, but Gibbs had had enough and cut her off.

"Ok, Abby, we're coming. DiNozzo, McGee, go. Agent Todd, a word?"

Tony leaned in to Kate as he passed her, whispering in a sing-song voice. "Oh, Katie, look who's getting a telling off by the Principal."

"Shut it, DiNozzo," both Gibbs and Kate responded.

Tony and Tim followed Abby out of the room, both looking back at Kate and Gibbs facing each other. Kate thought she was angry but it was nothing compared to Gibbs, even if it was all completely irrational.

Gibbs barely left enough time for them to leave the room before he launched into a scathing, if a little unprovoked, attack, which was very uncharacteristic of him.

"Agent Todd, the next time you decide to question my judgement, have the courtesy not to do it where the entire air force base can witness it."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me! You asked for theories," Kate immediately spat.

"I asked for theories, not for my agent to contradict everything I said."

"This is unbelievable. Is this to do with before?" Kate asked, forgetting where she was.

"Agent Todd, we're on a case. This is neither the time nor the place to discuss our recent problems."

Kate was so furious she was almost in tears, but she tried to keep her voice down. "Problems, Gibbs? You see our recent avoidance of Rule 12 as a _problem?_ I swear to you, Special Agent Gibbs, you continue to treat me like this and I promise, I will not be around to discuss this later." Kate's voice was rising and she abruptly turned and walked out to follow the guys.

Gibbs just stood there, staring at the door. "Crap."

"I would have to agree with you," a voice from the observation room could be heard saying.

Gibbs immediately looked up at the observation room and sighed when he saw who was up there.

"Quite," came a voice from behind the curtain.

Gibbs spun around. "Damn!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Hey, Abby! Wow, this place is amazing!" Tim exclaimed, as he and Tony made their way into the lab that had been assigned to Abby.

"I know, I've been here three hours and they just keep bringing new equipment in. You know, if I wasn't so happy at NCIS I'd be asking for a transfer here."

Tony looked at her with a pleading look. "Oh, you can't leave us, Abs! What would we do without you? Who'd help us in all the crime fighting?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Tony," Abby placated him. "It's just... look at all this stuff!" she added, throwing her arms out wide, at a loss for words.

"Did you find something Abby?" Kate asked as she walked into the room, her entire posture telling the others not to even mention what could have happened between her and Gibbs.

"Eh, yeah, over here," Abby said, her eyes asking Tony, 'What the hell is going on now?' Tony and Abby had had several conversations about the recent 'issues' between the Boss Man and the female agent on the team. Tony just shook his head, as if to say, 'Not now, later'.

So Abby continued. "Ok, so, you said that Lieutenant Andrews called Captain Marshall, right? Well, he also called the other three members. Spoke to them for around two or three minutes, although it was longer with the Colonel. Anyway, since he claimed to be calling with a message from the General I looked into his phone records. Before he made the first call to Lieutenant Millar he'd received one call. It didn't come from the base or General Landry's home number so we can assume it wasn't from him..."

No one noticed Gibbs entering the room until he barked at them, "Abby, quit telling us who it didn't come from and start saying who did call!"

Abby jumped before putting her hand over her heart and glaring at Gibbs. "Gibbs, don't scare me like that! And, as I was saying... Well, I would if I could... What I mean is... I haven't been able to trace it..."

"What do you need, Abby?" Gibbs was beginning to lose patience with all his team.

"Well, it's like this. I know where the call was made, from a coffee shop in the middle of town. But the phone was a pre-paid one and wasn't used before nor since."

"So you've got nothing," Gibbs stated rather than asked.

"Gibbs! I found out that the call was a fake! We just don't know if Andrews _knew_ it was a fake. We also don't know why it would be set up. And, well, we have no way to trace the person." Abby paused before admitting, "Ok, I admit it, we've got nothing." She sat down despondently.

"What about the bullets, Abby?" Tony asked, trying to help the stricken scientist.

Abby immediately bounced off her seat and moved to another machine.

"Ok, well, it seems that the same type of gun was used in all four murders, but definitely _not_ the same weapon. But I suppose it couldn't be as they all took place at the same time, so you knew that already..." Abby trailed off.

"So what's the weapon?" Tim asked.

"Well, that's kind of a problem. The gun is the standard issue M9 Beretta that pretty much everyone on this base has access to. I took a guess and tried it first and got lucky," she explained.

"That's really not very helpful," Tony stated what the rest of the group were thinking.

"Ya think, DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked. "I don't see you being helpful. Any thoughts on motive, culprit?"

"Well, Boss, I was just having a friendly chat with one of the base bab... females. She's on one of their top teams. I think it'd be a good idea to combine our efforts." Gibbs glared at him.

Tony tried toexplain without further incurring the wrath of Gibbs. "I know, Boss, we don't want to be compromised, but I think this is so far out of our field of expertise that we should work with them."

"You could have a point there, Tony," Abby agreed. "McGee and I are good, but if the science and equipment is from another world, we have no hope." She looked at Kate. "What do you think, Kate?"

Kate looked round the room and realised just what a nasty position her friend had put her in. If she agreed with Tony, which in some ways she did, Gibbs might explode and she really did not want a repeat performance of a few minutes ago. On the other hand, if she agreed with Gibbs against the others, he and the rest of the team would probably believe that she was only doing it to get into Gibbs' good books.

Crap. Ok, here goes…..

"Well, I think it would be useful to hear what the people who work here have to say. But I also feel that we need to keep our distance. There's nothing to say that one of _them_ didn't call Andrews, pretending to be the General. In fact, it would make sense that it was someone close to the General who could imitate him. The weapons used _could_ just be a coincidence, or they could be an attempt to set up people here, _or_..." Kate drew the word out, "It might actually have been the easiest weapon to hand, so the murderers just took them from the armoury."

Kate deliberately avoided looking at Gibbs but received a nod from Tim, who obviously believed she spoke some sense. She breathed a sigh of relief that she'd dodged that particular bullet.

Gibbs thought for a moment before issuing orders. "Ok, we need to speak to the people here. Kate, you're with me. We'll go see General Landry and General O'Neill and work out an interview schedule, starting with Colonel Carter and her team. DiNozzo, be useful and check the armoury for any missing weapons and such. McGee, you help Abby, see if you can narrow down those calls."

"So, let me get this straight, Gibbs," Tony said. "You get to interview the hot babes and I get stuck with the weapons."

Gibbs didn't even deign to acknowledge that with a response. He just looked at Kate before walking from the room, totally ignoring Tony.

Kate, however, couldn't resist responding. "It's safer that way, Tony, less of an inter-agency disaster to clean up." Then she smiled sweetly as she passed him on her way out, following Gibbs.

McGee turned to Abby. "Gibbs _does_ know that it's highly unlikely we'll find anything?"

"Of course, but he still wants us to try," Abby said, and turned back to her machines.

Tony didn't like being ignored so he decided he may as well get on with it. "Ok, well, I'd better go and look at some weapons. Fantastic," he said to no one in particular, as he walked from the room as well.

Gibbs walked, without looking behind him, straight to the elevator at the end of the corridor where two SFs were stationed, Kate trailing behind him.

"Airmen, we'd like to meet with Generals Landry and O'Neill."

The two airmen stood to attention, one of them replying, "Yes, Sir. I'll just ring to see if they're available." He picked up the phone on the wall by the elevator and was put through to General Landry. He replaced the handset and turned to Gibbs. "Sir, Generals Landry and O'Neill are both currently in the briefing room with SG-1. They can see you right now. Just take this elevator to Level 27 and you'll be met and taken to the briefing room." He pushed the button to call the elevator and when it arrived Gibbs walked straight

Kate followed him into the small space and suddenly wished that these sorts of elevators were not all as small as they were. Gibbs hit the button for Level 27 then, after the doors had closed and the elevator had started moving, he seemed to come to a decision and quickly hit the emergency stop.

"Gibbs, what are you doing? This isn't NCIS. They probably take this sort of thing seriously here," Kate squealed.

"We need to talk."

"We do but you were right, this isn't the time or place," Kate said with a slightly gentler tone.

"Kate, we can't go on like this."

"I know, but it's not me who's doing anything, Gibbs, remember?"

There was silence in the small space and Kate was about to take the initiative and start the elevator again but then decided they might at least get something sorted out.

"Look, Gibbs, I have no problem with Rule 12 just being a suggestion. I'm happy for you to be the boss at work and for us to be together outside." She thought she might as well lay everything on the line.

Gibbs sighed. "Well, I'm not," he said, and flicked the switch, starting the elevator on its downwards journey. "What happened last month won't happen again. If we keep having problems I'll have to remove you from my team."

Just as he finished, the doors opened. Kate was left staring at the space where Gibbs had been. Well, that certainly hadn't gone as she'd hoped. God, the man could be so ridiculously stubborn when he wanted to be. Sure, she didn't see it as the best situation, but she was unbelievably attracted to him and once you got past the 'bastard' exterior he was quite a nice guy. Or, at least he _had_ been a nice guy when they'd worked the stakeout last month when everything had gone right, but oh so wrong at the same time.

"Agent Todd, are you coming or will I just process the paperwork for transferring you now?"

"No need, _Boss,_ I'm coming."

The two were met by another SF who led them to the briefing room, where they found Landry, O'Neill and SG-1 sitting around the table.

Landry welcomed them. "Gibbs, come in, take a seat."

"Thank you, General." Gibbs and Kate sat in the two seats that had been hastily added and looked around the table, wondering who everyone was.

Landry introduced them, pointing out each person as he did so. "Special Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd, I presume, of NCIS, meet our top off-world team, SG-1. Colonels Carter and Mitchell, Dr Jackson, Teal'c and Vala Mal Doran." Each member of SG-1 nodded as they were introduced, but Teal'c rose and bowed slightly to the newcomers.

After all the introductions had been made Jack turned to Gibbs. So, to what do we owe this visit?" he said over-nicely, smirking. Gibbs was immediately wary; he had seen that look before on O'Neill's face; it usually meant he was playing his cards very close to his chest.

"Well, we've decided that in order to find your killers we need to know more about the program. Agent Todd and I are here to ask some questions, if no one minds?" He looked at Hank with raised eyebrows before looking back at Jack.

"Not at all, Gibbs," Jack answered. "What would you like to know?" Jack's apparent openness momentarily surprised Gibbs.

Gibbs turned to Kate. "Agent Todd, you had some concerns. Maybe we should start there," he said, immediately getting one up on Jack, who had expected him to speak.

All eyes in the room fell on Kate.

"Yes, well, we have interviewed the two family members who were on site and, although we appreciate that Mr Marshall had just lost his wife, he gave the distinct impression of hiding something from us. We wondered if you could enlighten us."

Sam replied in defence of her friend. "Alastair isn't military. If you have any questions you'll have to ask him."

"We will but we thought someone here might know something," Kate countered.

"They might," Sam conceded. "How do you know he lied?"

"Colonel, I've worked for the President. I know when someone is lying to me."

Jack raised his hand to stop Sam from responding, before replying himself. "So do I, Agent Todd. Look, if you truly believe Alastair was lying to you, then let's go over what he told both of us. I know he didn't lie to me and I certainly didn't tell him to lie to you."

"Ok," Kate said, very wary of the way the conversation was going. She hadn't expected the General to be so frank and wondered if he was being totally open with her. A brief glance at Gibbs showed he felt the same.

Jack looked right at Kate. "He told me about what happened this morning, the phone call - which we believe was a fake by the way - how he and Stacy went back to bed and then when they got up she answered the door and was shot," he said concisely.

"Yeah, that's what he told us," Kate said weakly.

Gibbs looked at Jack. "He told us about the work his wife did in the basement and that you felt it necessary to remove some items," he said quietly.

"Yeah, meant to mention that. Have to use the National Security speech for that; the material shouldn't have been outside the mountain so they had to be brought back. If it's of any relevance Carter will explain it. I'm not good at the sciency stuff," Jack finished lamely, vaguely waving a hand in Sam's direction.

Kate looked at Sam before looking back at Jack. "He mentioned something about going to Montana via Wal-Mart. Do any of you have any ideas about that?"

Daniel cleared his throat and spoke up. "Right, well, from the beginning we couldn't speak about the planets we visited when we were on the phone or outside the mountain so we used to say we were visiting different states. Most teams followed our lead and did the same," he explained.

"Why Wal-Mart?" Kate continued.

Daniel looked to Jack for confirmation that he should actually be explaining all this. Jack nodded imperceptibly.

"We have no idea. It could be a genuine visit to the store or a code for something else. We simply don't know."

Jack looked straight at Gibbs. "So, what do _you_ know then?"

Gibbs smirked back at his friend; he should have known that he'd have to give some information back.

"Well, Abby confirmed that they'd all received calls from Andrews shortly before they were all killed. Andrews had himself received a call before he rang them all, although it wasn't from Hank. It came from an untraceable cell phone that was used in a local coffee shop. No real leads there at all. The guns used were all your standard issue weapons, the M9."

"Great, so every man and his dog could have taken one," Jack stated.

"DiNozzo's checking that out now," Gibbs told him.

Hank spoke for the first time. "So, we're back to motive."

"Any thoughts?" Gibbs asked, looking round the room.

"None at all," Hank said, "except that someone was trying to get at the program. We've experienced similar situations in the past."

"To the same extent?" Kate asked.

Jack looked at Kate. "No, never to kill all members of a team in one hit. And never here on Earth. Many teams have suffered losses in the field but this is a whole different level of attack."

"You know what I think..." Vala started, but Daniel interrupted her.

"To kill a whole team, there must be something that we can do to trace them. They couldn't just have disappeared?" Daniel implored.

Cameron Mitchell now joined in the conversation. "Do you have any leads on transport or how they found the team? We don't just hand out addresses to anyone."

Gibbs spoke up. "No, unfortunately the people seemed to have come on foot then left at a run. No transport close by."

"You know if..." Vala tried again, but Kate unintentionally interrupted her this time.

"So, they have to be completely organised - vehicles, weapons, addresses. Could they have had access to the Mountain?" Kate asked, looking around at everyone.

Sam glanced briefly at Jack before replying. "In theory, if they were base personnel, but I have to say that I doubt it."

"Why do you doubt it?" Kate jumped on the answer.

"Agent Todd, we're a close group of people. We spend much of our lives depending on each other. We're unlikely to do something like that to another team," Sam quickly defended the base personnel.

"Close enough to keep secrets? Close enough to cover for each other?" Kate asked, eyeballing the female Colonel.

Vala tried to say something once again. "It would be a whole lot easier if..." only to be interrupted by Sam this time.

"Of course we keep secrets, Agent Todd. Apart from your team and a few Senators, the only people who know what we do either work here or live in the White House." Ok, so, Sam realised she was exaggerating but the young agent was winding her up.

"So, you only have a few people to talk to? You can only get close to the people you work with? Is that why only two of the team were married?"

"I have no idea why the Lieutenants weren't married, Agent Todd, I wasn't that close to them," Sam said.

"Are there regulations about relationships in the Mountain?" Kate persisted. She had a niggling feeling that there was something between General O'Neill and Colonel Carter and, although it might be nothing to do with the case, it might show Gibbs that his friend had changed.

Hank thought he'd better jump in here before things went any further. "Agent Todd, there are strict regulations in the Air Force. I have no idea what you're driving at but there was no question of the regulations being broken in SG-7," he said brusquely.

"Sorry, Hank," Gibbs said quietly. He turned to look at Kate. "Kate, let's keep on topic."

Kate glared at him but moved on. "Ok, so, no broken regulations, but they were a close team?"

The whole group, in particular Sam, looked to Jack to answer that one. They had just been discussing the team meetings and basement work before the agents had joined them.

"They seemed to be, yes. They'd meet at least once a week, do some work, then watch a movie," Jack answered.

"Was that common practice for teams?" Gibbs asked.

Daniel answered this time. "Yes. Like Sam said, we're close to our team mates and most teams meet outside of work. If they have families they're usually close as well."

"Can I just say..." Vala began. She was beginning to get rather annoyed at being ignored by everyone. It hadn't happened for a while and she was not impressed that it was happening now.

"Ms Mal Doran, do you have something sensible to say?" General Landry finally addressed the woman who was sitting twitching in her seat and shooting daggers at those people who had dared to interrupt her.

"Why, yes, General, I do have something to add, if no one minds and if everyone else would like to keep quiet for a moment," Vala said sweetly.

She looked around the table and was very pleased that all eyes were on her. Granted, Daniel looked like he might try to shut her up if she said anything stupid, but the rest of the group seemed keen to hear what she had to say.

"Well, it seems to me, as a visitor to Earth and someone who's only visited Wal-Mart a couple of times, that there can only be two options regarding the Wal-Mart comment. If we assume they weren't planning to visit the store, then they were using it as a code for something. Well, only two things are done at a Wal-Mart store: things are sold and things are bought." Vala quickly looked to see what the others thought of her idea then continued, "So, it would seem obvious that the team was either waiting to hear from someone who was either buying or selling something, or maybe both. Is there something they could have brought back from a mission that could be sold to another party?"

There was silence. Those who knew Vala were unsurprised that she had jumped straight to stealing as a motive, but even they had not assumed that SG-7 could be up to anything wrong.

"So, you're willingly saying that your team could have been involved in illegal activity?" Gibbs confronted Vala, putting words into her mouth. However, she wasn't rattled.

"Agent Gibbs," she purred, "The others around you will tell you I have a great knowledge of illegal activity. However, I'm not insinuating that other members of this command have as much knowledge."

Sam and Jack looked at each other, having a wordless conversation, before Sam said quietly, "Um, Agent Gibbs, I think we can possibly assume they were up to something. I checked over Captain Marshall's computer. Much of it was in scientific code and some in a language from another planet but, from what I could work out, they were planning to both buy _and_ sell something. I need more time to work out what it was, but the deal seemed big. I worked out one figure and they seemed to be talking millions of dollars."

"And you're only mentioning this now?" Gibbs asked incredulously, beginning to wonder if he had overestimated his friendship with the General.

"We were going to tell you but your friend seemed content to interrogate us about our working relationships," Sam responded as politely as she could under the circumstances.

Jack looked at Hank before taking charge of the meeting. "Right, ok, clearly we have some serious problems with SG-7. Cam, Daniel, go through all their reports in detail. Vala, good insight, take Teal'c and go to some of those suspicious markets you used to visit and see if you can get a lead on anything. Sam, work with the NCIS geeks on the computer. Steal Daniel if you need any translations done."

He looked at Gibbs. "You okay with that, Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs nodded in agreement.

"Ok, guys, get on with it. Gibbs, Hank and I would really appreciate a word in his office about different aspects of this investigation." Jack then rose from the table, the others following suit.

The orders had been given. It was now time to wait and see what they'd discover.


	8. Chapter 8

Well folks, here is chapter 8. Thanks for all the reviews and the alerts. Really makes my day to hear from you all. Enjoy.

Chapter 8

"Ok, what have we got?" Gibbs asked the assembled group in Abby's lab the following morning, looking around at his team and SG-1. Most had slept on base if they had slept at all. Those based at the SGC had their own quarters and at least a few of their personal items. The NCIS team, on the other hand, only had what they'd been able to grab before beaming to the Mountain. Gibbs was not the only one who felt that was a long time ago.

Gibbs looked around the group sitting at different benches in the lab. Tony and Tim were holding each other up and Tony looked suspiciously like he was asleep. Gibbs sorted that with a head slap.

"Whoa... sorry, Boss," Tony said, waking up.

"Well, DiNozzo, I'm waiting. What did you find?"

"Find... Boss?" Tony asked sleepily.

"Weapons, DiNozzo. What. Did. You. Find" Gibbs barked.

"Right, sorry, Boss. Checked the armoury and all the weapons signed out had been returned. None were missing and McGeek checked them and there were no weapons fired that shouldn't have been. Don't think they got them from here.

Gibbs turned from the two men, still holding each other up but now looking contrite about it. He could spy Abby and Colonel Carter in the middle of the room behind some fancy equipment that Abby had been so keen on. They looked surprisingly awake and Gibbs assumed that of the group they were the least likely to have slept at all. "Abby... anything?"

"Well, we've managed to decipher some of the code and they were definitely buying something. But, Gibbs, we think they were also planning to sell it on."

"So, we have two possible groups who could have a motive for killing the team: the sellers and/or the buyers." Gibbs looked around at the group as he spoke.

Sam sat up straight, getting Gibbs' attention, before adding, "And that's not even counting the nasty underworld people we've had to deal with in this country."

"Ok, Colonel Mitchell, Dr Jackson, how did you get on?" Gibbs pointedly looked at the two men who were both downing a flask full of coffee at a bench against the wall.

Daniel hastily swallowed and jumped in before Cam had a chance to reply. "Well, I'd have to agree with Abby and Sam. The team's reports are all succinct but I noticed something strange. I wouldn't have noticed anything if I hadn't been going through it in detail, but there are a few times that the team say _exactly_ the same thing. In my experience that usually means they copied each other, like Jack used to do with Sam and my reports or..."

"They thought up a cover story and all relayed it back in their reports," Gibbs finished.

"Eh, yeah."

Cam looked around at the group. "Anyone heard from Vala and Teal'c?" he asked from his position beside Daniel.

"Yup, they just checked in," Jack said as he walked into the room. "They should be back soon." Jack nodded to Gibbs, making Gibbs think back to the night before. They'd had a very productive discussion with Hank well into the night before following the group meeting yesterday afternoon - a private one between three old soldiers.

"_Gibbs, sit down," Hank instructed._

"_Why do I feel like I'm the one under interrogation?" He smiled as he sat down._

"_You're not, but we need to find a way for both our teams to work together to solve this case," Jack replied, "We thought a chat between us would be useful."_

"_Yeah, I'm sorry about Kate. She had a bit of an axe to grind and she came on a bit too strong."_

"_What exactly was she trying to find out?" Hank asked, although both he and Jack had an idea._

"_Look, you don't need to say anything, but Kate is a profiler and a damn good one. She reckons there's something between you and Colonel Carter. She wondered if, whatever it was, it was all above board, or if it was something you'd force others to lie about. She wondered if it had any bearing on the case, if that's why Mr Marshall lied." Gibbs knew he had to lay it on the line. He trusted O'Neill but, if he were pushed, he'd have to say he trusted Kate more. _

_There was an uncomfortable silence before Jack answered. "She's right." _

"_About what?" Gibbs spoke, straightening in the chair and wondering just exactly what the hell was going on here._

"_Sam and I are together. It's not a secret, as such, but very few people know about us and we'd like to keep it that way. But we'd _never_ have anyone lie for us."_

"_Ok, before I say congratulations, it is legal, right? I mean, I know all about the strict regulations."_

"_Yeah, the President said it was ok when I transferred to D.C. We agreed that I'd have no say in what she does day to day. That's Hank's job."_

"_You married?" Gibbs asked._

"_No, maybe when we get a couple of months without a major crisis, but not yet."_

_Both Hank and Jack laughed at his obvious joke; Gibbs was truly beginning to see what his old commander had been involved in for over 10 years._

_Jack noticed Gibbs' bemused look and looked at Hank. "So, Hank, now that we've given out the orders for the evening, I think it's time to open that very nice malt I gave you for Christmas. It's been a long day," he said, taking off his tie and making himself more comfortable._

_Hank chuckled then reached for the bottle. It would be nice to catch up._

"_So, Gibbs, you and Kate, on or off?" Jack asked when he got a glass._

_Gibbs groaned. He was going to have to face the music now. He'd known ever since O'Neill had caught his argument with Kate in Ducky's autopsy room that Jack would bring it up. He just hadn't counted on him bringing it up now. And the fact that Ducky had commented on it as well meant he'd also need to have a discussion with him. Oh well, he might as well get it over with._

"_You know something, Jack, or just fishing?" He thought he'd try a bit of deflection. It had never worked with Jack before and probably wouldn't now. Jack had always managed to get under his skin and Gibbs sensed that this would be no different. But he needed to give himself some time to think, to try to find out how much Jack knew._

"_I was in the observation room earlier."_

"_Yes, I noticed. So, checking up on us, Jack?" Gibbs tried to turn the conversation away from himself and Kate._

"_No, I was actually just there to see how the autopsy was going but I was lucky enough to walk in on what seemed to be a _very_ heated discussion between the two of you. So, just wondering..." Jack looked at Gibbs, eyebrows raised. "You know, I've shown you mine now you show me yours kind of thing..." He smirked._

"_Well, it depends. If you'd asked me a month ago, it would have been on. Today? Probably off."_

"_She's a little intense but seems nice," O'Neill commented._

"_Oh, she's more than nice," Gibbs smirked back at Jack._

"_By the way, what is Rule 12? There were only 10 rules when we were in Kuwait."_

"_Yeah, well, I decided I needed more once I started working at NCIS. Rule 12: Never date a co-worker."_

_Jack twisted his glass in his hands. "That has to have been one you made up with experience?"_

"_Yeah, a few years ago, with my partner."_

"_So, you remarried after Shannon died?" Hank enquired._

"_Yeah, three times, actually. Not to my partner, but it wouldn't have mattered; they were all complete disasters."_

"_Ah, so you don't want to get burnt again," Jack said, putting his feet up and nodding his head as if he were a shrink._

"_Yes... no... look, she's my subordinate, just like you guys. I don't think it's a good idea." Gibbs looked from Jack to Hank. "Are we done with this part of the interrogation?" _

"_I suppose we can move on," Hank affirmed. "We can always try to force Jack to tell us how he convinced the President to let him date Colonel Carter," he joked. "He hasn't told us yet." He winked at Gibbs. They both turned to see how flustered Jack was._

"_Yes, well, getting back to the investigation..." Jack began. It was going to be a long night._

It had been a long night but it had proved to Gibbs that he was right to trust his old commander. It had been fun to reminisce about the old days, although he would never admit to DiNozzo that they called them 'old'. But he brought himself back to the present and looked at Jack. "Did Teal'c and Vala say if they'd found anything?"

"No. Teal'c was his usual talkative self and I think he must have tied Vala up 'cause she didn't speak at all."

Daniel muttered to himself. "That'd be about right. I'd tie Vala up if I was alone with her for that long," he said with feeling, not realising that everyone could hear him.

Jack couldn't help smirking. "Yes, Danny Boy, but you'd be tying her up for a whole other reason," he joked, winking at Sam, causing her to choke on her coffee and Cam to burst out laughing. Daniel went a suitable colour of pink. The NCIS team just looked on in confusion.

The Klaxons suddenly went off, announcing an arrival.

"That should be them now. You wanna join us, Gibbs? Let's leave the kids to their work... or sleep, in some cases," Jack added, looking at DiNozzo. He smiled at Sam. "Carter, you come, too."

"Yes, Sir," she replied, immensely relieved not to be labelled as one of Jack's 'kids'. She looked round and saw that Agent Todd would have preferred the same thing.

"Kate, let's go," Gibbs said, following Sam's look.

Kate had the same look as Sam and it took Gibbs only a few seconds to realise what he'd done, and how ridiculously soft it made him look. Mentally smacking himself across the head, he followed the other three out the door. He knew full well that as soon as he left the others were going to collapse and Tony would be asleep in less than a minute but he figured he'd have to live with that.

Teal'c, Vala and Hank were already sitting around the briefing room table when the other four arrived.

"So, T, how did it go?" Jack asked, taking the seat next to Hank. Sam sat down next to him and Gibbs and Kate took the two remaining chairs at the end of the table.

"We were very successful, O'Neill."

"Really?" Jack and Sam asked incredulously.

Vala shook her hair out and ran her hands down her clothes, preening, then smiled at them sweetly. "Yes. I was my usual wonderful self!"

"Really?" Gibbs and Kate now sounded unconvinced.

"Indeed. Vala Mal Doran conducted herself well as a spy," Teal'c stated stoically.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, T! Whatcha find?" Jack demanded.

"There appears to be a rise in the activity of the Lucian Alliance. They are trying to take over planets through the use of the Kassa plant. They introduce it to the planet as a new foodstuff and the inhabitants become addicted to it and are thus easily controlled," he began to explain to the newcomers.

"It's a food that's also a drug! Can you believe it?" Vala said excitedly.

"Yes, we came across it a few months ago," Hank stated.

Vala visibly deflated but soon perked up, adding in a low tone as if it was a huge secret, "Oh well, they wanted to sell it here, maybe through Wal-Mart."

"Were SG-7 involved?" Hank asked seriously.

There was a pause as both Vala and Teal'c looked at each other, before Teal'c replied. "We found someone who reported that Earth's food supply was due to be targeted."

Vala jumped in quickly, "Yeah, they said the deal had already been made."

Gibbs looked at the two of them with a frown on his face. "But your team have all been killed. Has the deal been made with someone else?" He wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about but he could understand that if one team was dead others could be working towards the same goal.

"No, the informant said there was no time, but we think we know why they were killed," Vala answered.

Jack was fast running out of patience. "Look, we're all getting older here, just spill it!" He glared at Vala but it was Teal'c who answered.

"It would appear that SG-7 agreed to buy and sell the Kassa for the Alliance but that at the last minute there was a problem. It was reported that they intended to double cross the dealers," he said in his usual unemotional manner.

"How?" Gibbs asked.

Vala proudly jumped back in. "They were going to report it to _you_, General!" she said, pointing to Hank. The ensuing silence was so absolute a pin could have been heard to drop. This was sensational information.

Finally Sam broke the silence. "So, they were shot for doing the right thing," she theorised.

"Indeed, Colonel Carter, but our source revealed that initially they had intended to cause harm to Earth, although he had no idea why," Teal'c finished.

In the middle of the discussion Kate had sat staring at Teal'c, her mind working on something that she couldn't put her finger on. "I'm sorry, but do you mind if I ask you about the tattoo on your forehead?" she asked, taking a shot in the dark, following her instincts.

There was a brief look around the room as the others wondered what on earth Kate was driving at.

"It is a symbol of the false god I was forced to worship. He is no more." Teal'c bowed his head to Kate.

"Right..."

"Something on your mind, Agent Todd?" Hank enquired of the young woman, wondering where that question had suddenly come from.

"Well..."

"Crap, Alastair mentioned a mark!" Jack suddenly shouted.

"Alastair?" Sam asked, looking at Jack.

Kate mumbled to herself, "So that's where I've heard it before."

"You mean the killers were Jaffa?" Sam asked for clarification.

"Damn, how the hell did I miss that?" Jack scolded himself.

"What is a Jaffa?" Gibbs asked Jack, shifting in his seat, annoyed that he'd missed the comment from Mr Marshall but proud of Kate for remembering.

"Jaffa are the soldiers of the Goa'uld. They're the ones who tried to take over the galaxy. We stopped them but now some of the Jaffa work for the Lucian Alliance - basically a group of rogue traders - and some for the Ori, the new baddies," Jack answered his friend.

"Ok, now I understand why it took two years for you believe yourself," Gibbs commented.

"O'Neill," Teal'c made himself heard. "I have further information. We were informed that a group of warriors were dispatched to eliminate the team."

Sam looked at Jack before responding to Teal'c's statement. "So that has to have been them."

"Indeed, but we were not able to find any trace of them. At the third market we visited we found a valuable source who believed that the group still remain on Earth."

"They're here?" Kate asked. "But where? I would've thought they'd stand out."

"Well, we'll get a BOLO out for them," Gibbs added, glad to be back in his realm of expertise.

"What's that?" Vala asked, full of curiosity.

"It stands for 'be on the lookout'. It alerts other law enforcement agencies that we're trying to find people matching the description we put out," Kate explained, seeing Gibbs had forgotten that the Air Force, never mind the aliens, may not understand their abbreviations.

"Really? So you can find anyone with this? How about tall, dark, handsome, very wealthy..."

Vala would have continued but Gibbs cut her off, addressing Jack. "Can we assume they'll all have tattoos?"

"Yes, all Jaffa have them but I'd expect them to try and hide them."

Gibbs looked at Hank. "Ok. Sir, this is our area of expertise. Let us take a crack at it and then we can hand them over to you, ok?" He stood up.

"Very well," Hank replied, also standing.

Gibbs looked at Kate. "Right, Kate, get DiNozzo and McGee. Tell them to set up the BOLO with Abby," he ordered, and Kate left with a curt nod to the group.

Sam turned to Hank and Jack. "Sirs, I need to go and look at Stacy's computer again. I need to see if there's any evidence to show that they were planning to pull out of the deal."

"Ok, Carter, go ahead, Jack replied. "Get Daniel to help you. And get Cam to brief the Daedalus in case we need an emergency pick up. T, Vala, take a break, get some rest." Jack gave out the orders and watched as Sam and Teal'c left the room. He looked over at Vala. "You have a problem, Vala?"

"Yes, General. You order me to rest but how can I when you've got Daniel helping Sam? You _know_ I sleep better when I can use him as a pillow." She batted her eyelashes at him, making Jack squirm and blush. Not an easy task.

However, before Jack had a chance to reply, Hank spoke. "Leave, Ms Mal Doran," he ordered.

Vala looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it and, pouting, she left.

Jack looked guiltily at Hank as he realised that he had totally usurped his position, giving orders without checking with him first, when Gibbs took his leave.

"We'll catch up later, Generals. Hopefully, we'll have found something by then." Gibbs gave a sloppy salute and then left the room, leaving Jack and Hank together to contemplate recent events.

"Sorry about that, Hank. I should have checked with you before handing out orders. What can I say, it's been a long couple of days." Jack smiled sheepishly in apology, shrugging his shoulders.

"No need to apologise, Jack. I know it must be difficult being back here and not being in charge. But feel free to jump in whenever you feel the need."

"Thanks, Hank, but it's your show. I'm just here to help out. But yeah, it certainly is strange. Feel free to let me know when I start taking over." Jack chuckled then turned serious. "Hank, how did SG-7 get mixed up in this without reporting any of it?"

"I really have no idea. Dr Jackson believes that they've been creating some level of cover story for quite some time. They all had to be complicit in it for it to work. I briefed them, Jack, sometimes for hours, but they never gave anything away, nothing."

"I know, Hank."

"Is it possible that they'd planned to pull out of the deal all along?"

"That I don't know. I guess we might never find out but we do owe it to their families to find the people who killed them."

"Do you know, I've been wondering how the Jaffa team got here. They didn't come through the Gate."

"They have to have come by ship." Jack paused, thinking. "Wait, Sam managed to find a cloaked ship last year, maybe she can scan for one now. I'll get her back to organise that... Sorry, did it again." Jack looked at least a little contrite.

"It's fine, put in the call. But surely if they had a ship they would've left by now?"

"Hank, you and I both know that technological problems can always affect anyone. Heck, if I had a dollar for every time Carter nearly killed me with one of our own gizmos I wouldn't need to be working here."

"Ok, call Colonel Carter. It's something that the NCIS team won't be able to do."

"Yeah, I don't think BOLOs stretch to outer space."

Hank laughed as he watched Jack move to the phone. Like many people he wondered how the political elite of this country managed to deal with Jack O'Neill on a daily basis.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the delay folks, my beta and I decided to add a new chapter to make sure everything made sense. Thanks to all who have put it on alert, it is nice to know you are out there. Enjoy

Chapter 9

Cameron Mitchell was completely in awe. And this didn't happen often. The last time had been seeing the Stargate for the first time when he'd joined SG-1. But this time there was a totally different cause.

She was just completely incredible! Did he mention clever? Gorgeous? And those tattoos! Wow, with a capital W! He was standing in the doorway, watching her as she listened to her i-Pod as she moved around the room.

He'd been feeling at a bit of a loose end, of no help whatsoever to the ongoing investigation. Yesterday he'd spoken to the commander of the Daedalus after Sam had uploaded her let's-find-a-cloaked-ship program. They still hadn't found anything, but space was a big thing, apparently, and it was always worth a try.

Then this morning he'd gone around with Landry to visit the families of SG-7. Landry had wanted to pay his respects and thought it would be a good idea while he was there to check if any other sensitive material had been taken off the base by other members of the team. So Cam had gone with him, with an SF escort. He hadn't found anything in any of the houses, but they'd removed the team's computers to have them checked out back at the SGC. But he didn't feel hopeful that they'd find anything much of interest on their computers. Colonel Milton's wife had indicated that if the team had had any work to do they'd go to Captain Marshall's house, supporting what Captain Marshall's husband had said about them working downstairs in their basement. Cam had wanted to continue interviewing the families and also the neighbours but Landry had nixed that idea; NCIS was officially in charge of the investigation so today Gibbs, DiNozzo and Todd were out there asking around, trying to find any witnesses.

So then he'd gone to help Daniel and Sam but they'd kicked him out. They'd been going through everything they'd removed from Captain Marshall's basement – again - Sam going through everything on her computer, while Daniel was going through the files. So far they'd found nothing else that could help but they were still looking, hoping to find something – anything - and they'd made it clear that he'd been getting in their way. He'd been tempted to pop in to see Dr Lee and the transporter technology they'd found at Captain Marshall's house. However, Sam had already theorised that they may have been planning on using it if they ever needed a quick getaway.__And, apart from anything else, Lee's lovely assistant was on holiday so there was nothing really to look at there. He really would have preferred being in on the action, helping with the investigation, but at least this way he got to introduce himself properly to Ms Scuito...

So he'd come to the section that the NCIS team had been given, trying to get a lead on the investigation. He hadn't exactly been ordered to come; in fact, Landry had made it clear that they should give the NCIS team some room. Ok, so, looking for a lead was a cover story; what he really wanted to look at was the forensics girl he'd met and tried to impress. Not that he'd gotten anywhere. So now here he was, standing in the doorway, watching said forensics girl moving around as she worked, listening to her i-Pod.

"Hey, Colonel, everything ok?" Agent McGee asked as he breezed past Cam into Abby's lab.

"What... oh... yeah." Cam jumped but covered it quickly. "Just wanted to check if you folks needed anything. General O'Neill asked me to come," he improvised, knowing it was unlikely that McGee would check.

"No, I think we're fine. You need anything, Abs?" McGee asked, pulling an earphone from her ear.

"Hey, watch it McGee! And, no, I'm just waiting for more evidence to process, waiting for the machines to tell me they have something."

"You sure?" Cam pushed. "I mean, you guys are working hard. Don't you want a break or food or something?" His plans had been ruined by the arrival of the other agent, but then you never knew, maybe Abby wanted to go grab some food with him. He looked at her with a hopeful smile on his face.

"Nope, well, not unless you guys have any Caf-Pow?" Abby asked hopefully. Coke and coffee were just not hitting the spot for her; it had been almost 48 hours since her last taste of that wonderful drink.

"Sorry, the mess doesn't stretch that far." Cam shrugged, feeling useless once again.

McGee didn't like the way this Colonel was looking at his Abby, so thought he'd better interrupt. "Can you tell us anything about SG-7?"

"Not really, no," Cam said, sitting down. Landry had given the base personnel instructions to cooperate with NCIS so he figured he'd tell them straight.

"I would've thought that teams would be close here," Tim surmised, surprised that the Colonel didn't know much about the team.

"Some of us are, but I had nothing in common with the members of SG-7. Colonel Milton was older than me and had been a full bird for 5 years, way above me in the ranks. Captain Marshall had more in common with Carter and I know they worked together on a few projects, so you could ask Sam about her. As for the two Lieutenants, well, you read their files, McGee. They graduated last year and joined the SGC straight out of the Academy. Again I didn't have much in common with them."

When McGee didn't respond, Abby looked at Cam and asked in a conspiratorial whisper, her face full of excitement, "So, come on, tell us, what's it really like working here? I mean, it must really be amazing!"

"It is pretty unbelievable. It's a shame you don't have clearance to read all our mission reports. They make some interesting reading."

"How long have you worked here?"

"Just over a year, and nothing can beat it."

"McGoo!" DiNozzo called out as he walked into the lab carrying a laptop. "Fraternising with the base personnel? Tsk, tsk. Wait till Gibbs hears about this." He smirked at McGee before walking over to Abby. "Here, Abs, Lieutenant Andrews' computer. Gibbs wants you to have a look."

"Really? What about National Security?" Abby asked, raising her hands to make quotation marks as she said the last two words.

"Already had it checked by one of the base geeks. O'Neill says it's clean." DiNozzo handed over the bag and watched as Abby signed the chain of evidence section.

"What am I looking for?"

"Anything, but the boss was wondering if Andrews could have rigged that phone call, the one supposedly from Landry, from his computer. Apparently he was a whiz like Probie here."

"But why would he do that?" McGee thought aloud.

"Well obviously, McGadget, he would have an excellent reason like..." Tony stopped, arms waffling around in the air, trying to come up with a reason – any reason.

"You were saying, Tony?" McGee smiled smugly at him.

"Ok, I admit, I have _no_ idea. But Gibbs thinks it's odd that the fake call went to Andrews and not to Colonel Milton."

Abby turned to look at Cam. "What do you think, Colonel? You work here," she asked, putting Cam on the spot.

Cam felt very uncomfortable as all eyes were turned to him. "Well... it does seem strange... but sometimes, if the base can't get a hold of the team leader, they ring another member of the team, if it's something simple like, well, you know, a briefing being put back or something. But, assuming it _was_ one of the Jaffa who rang Andrews, then maybe they just picked one of the team, not knowing the protocol."

Tony glared at the officer who, without any investigative ability, had come up with an answer when he'd failed. "Whatever." Then he turned to look at Abby, dismissing Cam. "Abs, Gibbs wants you to check it anyway."

Once again Cam felt he was in the way, although he was happy to have contributed a little. "I'll leave you guys to it, then. Wouldn't want to be accused of interfering with an investigation." He looked at Abby, hoping to get her attention, but she was already engrossed in setting up the computer on her bench, chatting with her two male team mates. "Ok, see you guys later, then." But no one was paying him any attention, so he simply turned and walked out, feeling even less useful than he had earlier.

He nodded to the security detail at the end of the corridor and took the elevator to Daniel's lab where Daniel and Sam were still working.

"Hey," he said, walking into the room.

"Hi, Cam, what's up?" Sam replied. Daniel had his head buried firmly in a book.

"Not much. So, what's with us letting the NCIS guys look at Andrew's computer alone?"

"Nothing. I had a look and there was no obvious code or file, unlike Stacey's computer, so it was ok for the NCIS guys to have it. They'll get the other computers as well when they've been fully checked out."

"Are we sure we can trust them?"

A disembodied voice could be heard coming from behind the book. "Jack does, and he doesn't trust many people, so yeah."

"Oh, ok." Cam started pacing round the room.

"Speaking of Jack," Daniel said as he lifted his head up out of the book, looking at Sam. "Is he still here? He hasn't been around to break any artefacts today."

"Yeah, he was beamed back to D.C. for a meeting with the President yesterday but he was sent back late last night. Apparently the media are driving the Joint Chiefs crazy with questions about the deaths. They all feel it looks good if General O'Neill, as their boss, is here. So yes, he's still here, but I'm not sure where he is right at this moment – maybe he's with General Landry, or Agent Gibbs, or doing his paperwork."

Daniel snorted. "Yeah, I'm _sure_ Jack's doing his paperwork." Then he looked at Sam, grinned, and buried his head back in his book.

"Ok, I get all that, but why does that mean we're all here doing nothing?" Cam stated, touching the small items on Daniel's shelves.

"_We're_ working," Daniel said incredulously, looking back up at Cam. "Hey, stop touching everything. You're as bad as Jack!"

"You're bored, aren't you?" Sam accused, laughing.

"Look, you know me, Sam. I need to be _doing_ something, getting in the action, helping."

"You are _so_ like General O'Neill it's scary," Sam said, smiling.

"Hey, I heard that!" Jack said, standing in the door, glaring. "Don't you go comparing me to him," he said, pointing at Cam.

"Yes, Sir, sorry, Sir," Sam said, standing up straighter, causing both Daniel and Cam to smirk at her.

Sam quickly smacked Daniel and glared at Cam. It was enough to make them both go pale.

"So, General, anything we need to do now... please?" Cam asked, desperate for something to do.

"Well, I just spoke to Agent Gibbs and Agent Todd. They got nothing from talking to the neighbours and they found nothing at the houses."

"So we're totally out of leads," Cam said and sat down.

"Possibly, but you, Teal'c and Vala are going to go off world and try to dig up something else."

"Really? Now? Great!" Cam said, jumping up.

"Yup, but only overnight. We want you here when we find where the Jaffa are hiding out, assuming they're still here on Earth."

"Ok, I'll go and find them."

Cam was almost out the door when Daniel called out, "The last time I saw Vala she was searching for that DiNozzo. What does she see in him, anyway?" he added, muttering to no one in particular.

"Teal'c's in the gym, Mitchell," Jack added.

"Great, something to do, finally! We'll get geared up and then go see General Landry." And with that Cam bustled out the door watched by the others, smirks on all their faces.

"You know, Sam's right. He's _so_ like you," Daniel commented, looking at Jack.

"Well, she'd better not like him like she likes me!" Jack growled, causing Sam to blush.

* * *

"Abs, anything on the computer or the BOLO?" Gibbs demanded, entering her lab.

"Not yet, Boss," McGee quickly answered for her.

Abby glared at McGee for having answered for her then looked back at Gibbs. "Gibbs, we checked for the programme you wanted, to see if somehow the computer could have been rigged to make the phone call, but nothing. Even if he'd deleted it there would still be a ghost of it left behind. As you know, nothing that's been deleted is really deleted until it's been written over. But then, if he knew that much about computers he would have known that, so I can't say for sure. All I _can_ say is that I we didn't find any sort of programme that could do that. And we didn't find anything else of any interest, either. And we've expanded the BOLO to take in the neighbouring states, not just Colorado, but still nothing. Are we sure they're still here, you know, on Earth?"

"No, but General O'Neill's sending some of SG1 off world to see if they can find out any more about what's going on. Hopefully they'll find out if they're still here. DiNozzo, go help Kate with writing up the witness statements from the last two days."

"On it, Boss." DiNozzo left to find his partner.

Gibbs rubbed his hand through his short-cropped hair.

Abby walked over to Gibbs and threw her arms around him, giving him a hug. "It's ok, Bossman, we'll get to the bottom of this." Abby tried to give some comfort for a case that was clearly driving her boss nuts. _**.**_

"Just find me some answers, Abs. McGee, be useful and help her. I'm going to check on Ducky." Gibbs shrugged off Abby's hug and turned and left the room.

Gibbs walked into the autopsy room. "Anything, Ducky?" he asked the man bent over the final body.

"Nothing, Jethro. Just like the other three whom I worked on yesterday, this poor boy died instantly of a gunshot wound to the head. He hasn't told me anything I didn't know before."

"This Andrews?"

"Yes. Were you expecting something to come from the autopsy?"

"Not really. Just wondered if he'd been drugged beforehand. Maybe he didn't make the calls."

"Sorry, Jethro, the tox screens for all were negative."

"Is there no news on the culprits?" Ducky continued.

"No. You'd think that four men with tattoos on their foreheads would stand out."

"You'll find them, Jethro. I'm sure of it," Ducky stated as he covered up Andrew's body.

Gibbs just huffed and left to return to the waiting game.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"McProbie, are you sure this is the right place?" Tony demanded testily into his microphone. He was sitting in a car opposite the main entrance to the building they had under surveillance. McGee was positioned inside the library where the BOLO had led them, and Gibbs and Kate were in another car at the back exit. The police had told them of a possible sighting of the four 'men' they were after but it was iffy at best. After a heated discussion in the briefing room, in which the two Generals had demanded they take back up, the team had come here - alone - against Landry's and Jack's advice. So here they were, waiting for McGee to confirm or reject the sighting; Tony had decided he looked the most likely of the four to visit a library.

"DiNozzo, stop wasting time with stupid questions. You know if he answers he risks giving himself away," Gibbs barked.

"Sorry, Boss, it's just I find it hard to believe that four aliens would meet in the local library." Gibbs didn't bother to reply; he just continued to stare out the car window at the back exit.

Kate tended to agree with Tony but she tried to see both sides. "Well, Colonel Mitchell said that it appears they're still here on Earth, or at least they found no evidence to the contrary when they were off-world. And Colonel Carter said that they'd finally found the Jaffa's ship and that it'd been damaged, so they _are_ probably still here. Maybe they had no other option. Maybe these Jaffa guys don't know what a library actually is. Just that it's a public building where they can get in for free, talk in a quiet place, and not have to pay for anything. They can keep a low profile there."

"Ever think you'd be talking about space ships and aliens ... and not be joking?" DiNozzo laughed.

Suddenly McGee cut in, whispering into his microphone, "Boss."

"Go, McGee," Gibbs ordered.

"Got them, Boss. Second floor, north-east corner. Lots of potential hostages around."

"Ok, stay put. Right, we need a way to get them out of the building. Any ideas?" Gibbs asked.

Tony was the first to jump in. "Fire alarm would work, Boss."

"Well, yes, DiNozzo, but you'd turn four running people into a hundred. How do you suppose we catch the ones we want?" Gibbs slammed him down sarcastically.

Kate looked over at Gibbs then spoke quietly, calmly, in opposition to Gibbs' outburst. "Is there a way to clear the library discreetly, move the public out?"

McGee replied, "Not without drawing their attention. Boss, they're constantly looking around the room."

Gibbs opened his mouth to reply when Tony was heard once again. "What about getting the base to beam them out?" he suggested.

This time Kate slammed him down before Gibbs had a chance to. "Tony, what have you been drinking today? The air force is not going to reveal something like that to a crowded room without explanation."

"Boss, they're moving," McGee said quietly, already following the group. "North-east stairwell. That takes them out at your exit."

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked.

"Coming, Boss."

"Kate, cover the exit from the other side of the alley."

"Ok," Kate responded, opening the car door.

"Kate, be careful," Gibbs said to her in what he could only describe to himself as a moment of weakness. Kate looked at Gibbs over her shoulder and was about to call him on it but then just rolled her eyes and got out of the car, quickly crossing the alley.

Everything then happened so quickly.

The exit door into the back alley burst open. The four Jaffa moved into the alley but were moving slowly, clearly unsure of where they were going.

"Freeze, put your weapons down!" Tony yelled as he rushed around the corner, gun held out in front of him.

The Jaffa stopped in their tracks, looking at each other, surprised at being stopped by this unknown human. Then, before they had a chance to react, McGee came flying out through the library door, smacking right into the closest Jaffa, their heads colliding with an audible 'crack'. They both went down, the Jaffa knocking his head hard on the corner of the building. One down - unfortunately one on each team - three to go.

The other three Jaffa were startled and hesitated. Kate had by this time drawn her weapon, and the Jaffa now all drew their Berettas and started firing. Kate and Tony both jumped for cover behind some nearby garbage bins, returning fire.

It was all over before Gibbs had even gotten out of the car. He looked around, not prepared for what he saw. McGee was still on the ground, concussed and slipping in and out of consciousness, lying next to the Jaffa he'd crashed into who was fully out of it. Tony was standing above another Jaffa, although Gibbs couldn't tell if he was unconscious or dead as there wasn't much blood, only some where he'd obviously been shot in the leg. The other two members of the hit squad had been taken out; each were covered in blood and had obviously been shot through their symbiote pouches, where O'Neill had told them to aim for maximum effect.

Gibbs noticed Tony holding something strange. He could only assume it was some type of weapon, although not one he'd ever seen before. "DiNozzo, where the hell did you get that? And what the hell is it?" Gibbs shouted, moving towards the pile of bodies.

"Dr Jackson gave it to me when he realised we were coming without backup, said we could only use it where there was no one around to see it, though. It's called a zat, or a cat or a mat or something," Tony said, squatting down beside the Jaffa. "Wow, it really does what he said it would! This guy really is unconscious," he said, sounding pleased. "Where's Kate?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to the place where Kate should have been.

Suddenly Gibbs could focus on only one thing. His attention was taken by the female on the ground, who was lying in a pool of blood. He ran over to her and tried to stop the flow from her back.

"Crap, Kate, this is _not_ happening. You need to stop bleeding, you understand me?" Gibbs ordered, before adding softly, "I'm sorry. I didn't realise."

"Boss, is she ok?" Tony asked keeping an eye on the Jaffa, fear in his voice for what the answer would be.

"She will be," Gibbs said defiantly as he reached for the communication device O'Neill had thrust into his hand as he'd left the briefing room following the argument over them needing help. God, he wished he'd taken their advice and not been so pigheaded. "This is Special Agent Gibbs, I have no idea who you are but get us the hell out of here. There are five to move. Do we need to hold hands or something?"

"Agent Gibbs, we have six life signs. Is someone remaining behind?"

"One of my agents, DiNozzo, will stay to deal with the local police. And there are two dead Jaffa who'll have to be picked up. Alert the base to send out our ME." Gibbs noticed Tony open his mouth to protest, so turned his back on him, effectively cutting him off before he could utter a sound, before continuing, urgently. "Please hurry! We have an agent down."

"Ok, Sir, we have your marker, plus those of Agent Todd and Agent McGee. You will have to be touching the Jaffa to allow us to get a lock on them."

Gibbs looked over to where his two agents were. "Fine. Tony, cuff your Jaffa. McGee, you with us? Grab that other one. We'll go on my mark."

"Got it, Boss." Tony made sure that he had a firm hold before looking over to see what McGee was up to. "Boss, McGee's out of it."

Gibbs looked over at McGee. "Well, I don't know, DiNozzo. Use your brain for once. Pull your guy over to him or something. Just make sure they're all touching," Gibbs yelled, still holding on to Kate and pressing his jacket to the wound on her back, clearly showing his anxiety. "Just make sure you're clear when they beam us up!"

Wasting no time, Tony dragged the Jaffa, who was just starting to come to, over to McGee, making sure all three were touching. "Ok, Boss, ready!"

Gibbs checked that Tony was clear and, after checking that no one was watching, alerted the commander of the ship. "Right, we're ready."

The group was immediately beamed from the back alley up to the Daedalus then straight to the isolation room at the base. Unlike the previous time the NCIS team had been beamed to the Mountain, this time they paid no attention to the novelty or disorientation of being beamed from place to place. They were far too concerned with their injured team mates.

Teal'c and Cam were waiting for them just inside the isolation room, and moved to cover the injured Jaffa as soon as they arrived. The two Jaffa were quickly taken on gurneys under armed guard to another room to be looked at. Dr Lam and her team, came running into the room and took control of the situation immediately. Tim was moved from a collapsed heap onto a gurney and Kate was carried by Gibbs to another. She w**a**s soon surrounded by medical personnel, who quickly pushed Gibbs out of the way and rushed her straight to surgery.

Daniel, Sam and Jack rushed into the observation room, having been given an outline of events by the commander of the ship.

Abby wasn't far behind them. "What happened? Who's hurt? Are they ok? Tell me what's going on!" she demanded, distraught, not knowing what was going on, desperate to know who was hurt and what had happened.

All three looked at her and Sam gently put her hand on Abby's shoulder, giving what comfort she could. "Abby you need to calm down..." she started.

"Don't tell me to calm down! These are my people, not yours!" Abby squared up to Sam, Sam's hand falling off Abby's shoulder. "Just tell me what the hell's happened!" she shouted.

Daniel, ever the diplomat, tried to soothe her. "Abby, there was a fire fight, Agent Todd was shot. Dr Lam is taking care of her now."

Abby quickly spun around to face him. Then, with dread in her voice, she quietly asked the questions uppermost in her mind. "What? Is she ok? How badly is she injured? And what about the others? Are they ok?"

"Kate's been taken to surgery. She's in good hands. Agent McGee was knocked out. He has a cut on his head but he seems to be coming around now. Agent DiNozzo stayed in town waiting for Dr Mallard and as far as we know he wasn't injured. And Gibbs, well, you can see for yourself down there. He doesn't appear to be injured, either," he finished, looking down at Gibbs in the isolation room below.

Abby looked down and could see Gibbs pacing like a caged lion while McGee was being attended to. Gibbs usually didn't do emotion but even Sam and Daniel, who had not known him previously, could see that he was agitated. "But he's covered in blood!"

Daniel didn't want to upset her any more than she already was, so spoke to her very gently. "Abby, that's not his blood, it's Kate's."

Abby looked back at Daniel, shocked, then quickly left the room and headed down to her team mates below.

Daniel watched Abby leave then turned to Jack. "Well, I'm going to check in with Cam and Teal'c. We can start to interview the Jaffa as soon as the docs say it's ok."

Jack nodded, knowing that if anyone was going to get to the bottom of this situation it would be Daniel the diplomat and Teal'c, who could put the fear of God into most people, including fearless Jaffa.

"Ok, so, we'll keep you posted," Daniel said, and then he, too, walked from the room.

Sam and Jack were left looking at the quieter room, where Gibbs was standing, having been released from Abby's bear hug.

"So, he's in love with Agent Todd then, isn't he?" Sam stated, rather than asked, not moving her gaze from what was going on in the room below.

"Yeah, although the stupid man has no idea what to do and seems content to watch her walk away. He's worried because she works for him, a bit like you and me."

Sam glanced at Jack. "Is there the same option for them that there was for us?" she asked, moving beside him and discretely taking his hand.

Jack squeezed her hand. "Maybe, he'd have to want it, though, like me." Jack sighed, trying to shake off the unwanted memories of all the years he'd put off his chance with Sam, almost losing her to someone else.

They watched in silence as McGee was attended to and slowly became aware of his surroundings. Sam smiled as she saw Abby start to get in the way, fussing over him. Gibbs had stopped pacing and was now seemingly staring into space in the direction of the door through which Kate had been whisked. Jack was pretty sure that he was trying to use x-ray vision to check on his team mate, willing her to be ok.

Sam squeezed his hand to get his attention, not looking him in the eye as she spoke. "So, if we're done and everyone pulls through... how long can you stay?" she asked quietly. She rarely demanded anything of him or his company, so her request was enough to force Jack to turn towards her.

"Oh, I think at least a few days. I mean, there _has_ to be a lot of paperwork to complete and read. Bound to take me some time." He smiled gently at her before looking concerned when he didn't see an answering smile on Sam's face. "You ok?"

"Yeah, Agent Todd just got under my skin yesterday. We haven't really faced much pressure before. It just made me realise what we could be faced with in the future. It kinda freaked me out."

"Really? Fearless Colonel Carter 'freaked out' by a federal agent?" Jack began to joke then looked at her closely and turned serious. "Sam, we knew others could question us. If you're not comfortable anymore with us then I'll wait until I retire. Heck, I'll put in for retirement today if you want."

"No, no, I don't want that. I just wasn't expecting it so didn't have all my defences up." She shrugged but held on to his hand tighter.

"Well, we need to make sure they're in place from now on." He tugged on her hand, making her turn to look at him. "Sam, no one can touch us as long as we're together, I promise," he finished in a whisper.

The smile began to return to Sam's face as she looked at him. "Yeah, you're right," she replied.

"I am? Really?" Jack grinned and stood up straight, puffing out his chest. Sam couldn't help but giggle, which made Jack frown at her momentarily before smiling.

He nudged her shoulder. "Come on, I'm sure there's _lots_ of paperwork for me to fill in over this but that can wait. I need to talk to Gibbs, too, but that can probably wait until after we find out how Kate's going. He doesn't seem to be handling it too well." Jack frowned as he looked down at Gibbs, thinking that he'd probably be in an even worse state if it were Sam in surgery. He mentally shook himself, trying to rid himself of all the memories he had of when he'd been in the same position as Gibbs was right now. He looked back at Sam then squeezed her hand again before reluctantly letting it go. "I gonna go see how the guys are getting on with the Jaffa."

"Yeah, I'm going to go and look at Stacy's computer again." Jack could see Sam trying not to show how upset she was remembering her friend's death and possible betrayal, and his heart went out to her as she continued, "Maybe there's something I missed the first time, maybe some hidden or deleted files that can tell us more about what they were up to."

"Come 'ere," Jack said, opening his arms after quickly checking that no one could see them up in the observation room. He enfolded Sam in his embrace, giving her a quick hug - which was all the comfort he could give her at that point - whilst at the same time reassuring himself that Sam was alive and well.

Jack hugged her tighter and then reluctantly let her go. "Well, we'd better get on with it then. You gonna be ok?" Sam nodded once again. "Ok, lunch later? I hear there's cake!" Jack said with a grin. That got a small chuckle out of Sam and she smiled warmly up at Jack, her eyes sparkling through her unshed tears. Jack thought that his job there was done. "Ok, come on, we'd better get back to it." And he gently rested his hand on the small of Sam's back as she preceded him from the room.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Six hours later saw a different picture in the SGC.

Abby was fussing over McGee who, although he insisted he was fine, had been forced to stay in bed. Abby had fluffed his pillows, tucked in the covers, brought him all the Jell-o types available, and was now driving him crazy by making his bed move up and down.

"Abby, could you _please_ go and find Tony and annoy him?"

"McGee... I'm here to comfort you in your hour of need!" Abby said, aghast.

"I know, Abs. Just, my head hurts and I could do with some quiet. Why don't you go comfort Gibbs? You know he appreciates your hugs deep down." Tim's puppy dog eyes were enough to convince Abby.

"Ok!" She gave him a peck on the cheek and bounded off the bed.

Tony and Ducky had spent two hours in the centre of Colorado Springs. Tony had been his usual charming self when talking to the females of the population and had really got a kick out of using the National Security speech a couple - or even a dozen - times. The local police department had gladly handed over control of the scene; the Chief had spent far too much time with one Jack O'Neill to doubt the validity of Tony's claims. Tony had been surprised at how helpful Ducky had been, although he supposed he shouldn't have been; clearly Ducky had been around more than enough crime scenes to know what to do and how to best help the one and only NCIS agent on scene.

Tony had bagged, tagged, sketched and photographed, and had done it all – amazingly - without complaining once. He was very worried about Kate and even a little concerned about McClumsy. Tim was now two for two: one dislocated finger and now a concussion. Tony had spent much of the early afternoon thinking up suitable jokes and nick names after this second mishap. But although Tony was going through the motions, his mind was mainly on the Boss. Mr Don't Get Too Attached, Mr Rule Number 12. If Tony had to guess - and he was a curious man at the best of times - he would say that Gibbs was definitely thinking about breaking that particular rule with Kate. Actually, seeing the look on Gibbs' face had made Tony wonder if the rule hadn't already been thrown right out the window.

Now both Tony and Ducky were back at the base. Ducky was having a fascinating evening performing an autopsy on an alien. The autopsy wasn't necessary to establish cause of death – after all, his team had caused it and so there wasn't any real doubt, although one never knew - but it was a wonderful thing to be able to say you had done one. Of course, Ducky appreciated that he couldn't discuss it outside his small group of close friends but he and Abby had been working on code words and it would be very enjoyable to have a secret that no one else in NCIS knew about.

Tony, very uncharacteristically, was sitting doing his paperwork. He had gone to the infirmary to get news on Kate and had been surprised when he'd found the room empty, apart from Kate herself, who hadn't woken up yet after her operation. He had expected Gibbs, or at least Abby, to be with her, so he had sat himself down and begun to write his report.

Teal'c, Daniel and Cam had spent the best part of 5 hours interviewing and re-interviewing the Jaffa. They had been unwilling to talk to begin with but half an hour alone with Teal'c had convinced them that it would be best to cooperate. They were now briefing General Landry.

Cam, being the CO of SG-1, began. "Sir, it seems that the head of one section of the Lucien Alliance is trying to expand their operations. They..." he began slowly, only to be interrupted by Daniel, who couldn't help himself.

"Yeah, they'd heard about the population of Earth and believed if we could become addicted then they'd be rich beyond their wildest dreams." He was about to continue when Landry cut him off.

"That's all very fascinating, Dr Jackson, but what I want to know is whether the four Marines get military funerals or lose all their pensions because they were traitors," Landry all but shouted, trying to get his top team to get to the point.

"General Landry," Teal'c began.

"Yes, Teal'c?" Landry was hoping that the usually taciturn Jaffa would be able to apprise him -succinctly - of what he wanted to know.

Teal'c nodded very slightly before continuing. "The Jaffa were told that they were here to kill people who had dishonoured the Alliance."

"They were talking about SG-7?"

"We believe so."

"In what way had they been dishonourable?" Hank asked.

Daniel interrupted once again before Teal'c had a chance to reply. "They were told that these people had been planning to warn their world and destroy the Kassa train coming to Earth," Daniel said and sat back, smiling a small smile.

"Sir," Cam said, getting Landry's attention, "We may never know the details but it would seem they were killed because they were trying to protect Earth. I think that deserves the proper funeral and pensions." He hoped he hadn't overstepped his position.

"I agree, General," Daniel added.

"Teal'c?" Landry enquired.

"It would appear they had indeed intended to help, not hinder the Tau'ri," he said, and bowed his head slightly.

"Good, dismissed." Landry stood and left the room.

Sam and Jack walked into the commissary to grab some coffee and, Jack hoped, some of the very good pie that the base served. It was getting late and there was only one other person in the room – Gibbs.

"Go talk to him, Jack. I'll be in my lab. Come get me when you're done and we can go home," Sam said, grabbing herself some blue Jell-o and a coffee.

Jack opened his mouth to try wheedling his way out of having to speak to Gibbs when Sam gave him a shove_. _

"Go! You know we wouldn't have each other if Daniel hadn't forced you to open up and talk to him. Maybe you should do the same for Gibbs."

She could be so annoyingly persuasive when she wanted to be, Jack thought. "Can't I at least grab some pie first?" he whined, _really_ not wanting to go and talk to Gibbs; he so wasn't good at this whole opening-up thing. Sam just gave him a look, one that he'd seen many times before, so he hurriedly got what he wanted and crossed the room, coffee in one hand and a large slice of pie on a plate in the other, and sat down in front of Gibbs.

"So, she gonna be ok?" He thought if he started with a general concern before moving in for the more direct approach it might be less obvious.

"Uh… yeah. Your Doc says she should be fine in a week or two."

"Good... so... you planning to... stay here for a while?" He chickened out. He couldn't do it, couldn't ask the question.

"A couple of days, just till Kate is up and about, McGee can see straight, and we've spoken to the families. Hank wants to take the investigation from here given the origin of the assassins."

"Right, good, so we'll have time to catch up," Jack finished very lamely.

There was a very uncomfortable silence descending, one which Jack knew always happened when he was in a conversation - with anyone - about relationships. He thought about just getting up and leaving - well, he could convince Sam he'd tried to talk to Gibbs but that Gibbs wouldn't listen, couldn't he? He'd just convinced himself that he could successfully lie to her when he turned and saw her still standing at the door, glowering at him.

Crap, that woman knew him far better than was necessary for a romantic relationship. He smiled wryly to himself. Of course she did, she knew him better than he did himself most of the time. Ok, on with the conversation. Better just to go for the big one. He gave Sam a sheepish smile and turned back to Gibbs.

"So, you going to tell Agent Todd you love her, or not?"

It was a good thing Jack hadn't lost his reflexes as he had to dodge the coffee that flew out of Gibbs' mouth.

"Gunny, that is _not_ very marine-like," Jack said, after brushing a few errant spots from his sleeve.

"Sorry, Sir." Gibbs felt like he'd done more apologising in the last two days since he'd been here than he'd done the whole time since joining NCIS. In a way it annoyed him that his old commanders had that effect on him, but then when he watched Tony he could really see the impact a commander could have on a subordinate. He knew O'Neill was the one commander who'd had the biggest impact on him.

"So, you gonna tell her?" Jack tried again. But this was it - if it was a disaster then he could honestly tell Sam he'd done his best.

"I don't think she wants to hear it," Gibbs said, running his hand through his hair, similar to the gesture Jack often used.

"Ah, so at least we've worked one thing out - you _do_ feel that way about her. That's a start." Jack smirked and yet again Gibbs could see he'd been outmanoeuvred. How this man managed it every single time amazed him. It was like he was a raw recruit again.

Gibbs bristled. He was not a green marine, he was an NCIS team leader, and this man was _not_ going to screw him over. "General, I really don't want to discuss this with you." He almost stood but before he got to his feet Jack replied.

"No, but you will."

"You can't order me to talk. I'm not one of your men anymore." This time Gibbs _did_ get to his feet.

Jack sighed; there were times when he really needed to evaluate who wore the pants in his relationship with Sam.

"Look, Gibbs, I hate this stuff - I imagine about as much as you - but if Daniel hadn't had this same ridiculously uncomfortable conversation with me on a dock in Minnesota I wouldn't have Sam... and that's simply unacceptable. So let's talk. I'm trying to channel Daniel - which I do not make a habit of, by the way - and we can try and fix your situation."

Gibbs looked at the General in front of him and realised that he was as uncomfortable as he himself was. He smiled. "So, this was Colonel Carter's idea?"

"Of course! You didn't think I'd _willingly_ bring this up?" Jack questioned, throwing up his arms, and Gibbs retook his seat opposite him.

"So, I assume that, like Carter and I went through, you're finding that working together is becoming difficult?" Jack stated.

"Strained would be a better word."

Jack cleared his throat, desperately trying to decide what Daniel would say. He'd want to know details. Ugh, Jack hated these types of details. Ok, here goes.

"Has anything happened between you?"

Gibbs looked away and took a few moments before sighing, looking back at Jack, and then reluctantly replying. "Yeah... a few weeks ago we were on a case. God, General, I'm so stupid! We were on a stakeout for over a week... we drew straws for who got Tony." Gibbs laughed, remembering the scene in the bull-pen. "McGee lost."

"So, you and Kate worked together?"

"Yeah. I tell you, Jack, if I knew then what I know now I would've taken DiNozzo... gladly."

"What happened?"

"The usual: confined space, long periods of boredom, hormones, and a huge amount of frustration," Gibbs quipped, but Jack could tell it went deeper than a relief of hormones.

"Ok, channelling my geeky friend again, is there a chance she could be pregnant? 'Cause that's something bigger than anything else." Jack squirmed but could almost hear Daniel's voice in his head asking the same question. Heck, he'd asked it when Jack had finally given in at his cabin and Daniel had found him the next day. Now _that_ had been an interesting conversation. Jack shuddered at the memory and then brought himself back to the present as Gibbs answered.

"Do you know something horrible? I actually don't know. You know, I'm a damn good investigator, General, but I haven't a bloody clue. I know I didn't do anything to help prevent it but did she? I gotta admit I haven't had the guts to ask. Well, actually I haven't had the guts to even consider the possibility."

"Ah," Jack finished, incredibly lamely. "Well, Daniel suggests that you don't start with that question when you talk to her." He smiled wryly.

"He's good."

"That he is."

They both sat back and took a gulp of coffee.

"You guys really need a Starbucks in here, you know?"

"Been campaigning for years. You'd think with the stars you'd get anything you wanted, wouldn't you?" Jack quickly answered wryly. "Well, it doesn't work that way." He scowled at his cup of coffee before looking sheepishly back at Gibbs. "So, anyway, back to the issue we have to have so that I can sleep in bed tonight and not on the couch, no matter how much I'd rather be anywhere else right now."

"You want to know how I feel."

"It's as good a place as any to start."

"Yeah, I think she's great, good looking, intelligent, a good investigator..."

"Gibbs, I asked you how you _feel_, not to write her resume, for cryin' out loud!" Jack snapped. "What the hell are we going to do with you?"

"Damned if I know."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ok folks, sorry for the delay. Real life has been hectic for me and my beta. Hope to post more soon. Enjoy.

Sitting in the commissary facing Gibbs, with Sam still watching them from her position just outside, Jack had decided that enough was enough. He firmly believed that he had done enough to be able to sleep in Sam's bed and not on the pull-out bed, if that could even be classed as a bed. Well, it wasn't his fault that Gibbs was refusing to make a decision, and it definitely wasn't his fault if that decision didn't satisfy his fiancée, who was a straight-down-the-line scientist hiding a completely sappy romantic within. No, not his fault at all.

He was out of ideas. How on earth – or any planet or moon you cared to name – was he going to get Gibbs to talk things over with Kate? First, though, Gibbs really needed to sort out how he felt, and Jack had no idea how he was going to get him to do that! Daniel had somehow managed to get him to talk things over with Sam, but Gibbs was proving to be even more stubborn than he'd been himself, something he didn't think would have been possible. But with Gibbs' refusal to admit how he felt about Kate – and Jack wondered if the man even knew himself how he really felt about her, or if he was just being stubbornly obtuse, given his last useless answer – Jack decided that Gibbs most likely wanted to end this particular conversation nearly as much as he himself did. But really, what _were_ they going to do with him? He wondered what Sam would say if they left without having accomplished anything. Maybe he should get Daniel to talk to him. Yeah, like that would go down well. Jack sighed and looked at Gibbs, stumped, wondering what he could possibly do or say to help them sort things out.

Outside the commissary, where Sam was keeping a watchful eye on her General, Abby arrived, surprising Sam when she spoke to her.

"Ah, Colonel..." Abby began, getting Sam's attention before continuing. "Is it ok to call you that? Or maybe it should be something more personal - Samantha, Sam..."

"Abby, you know that Colonel's fine, or Sam, like you used last night. What can I do for you?"

Abby began to pace. "Well, I've been thinking, and I know what Gibbs would say, but I'm not him. Well, you and I got on so well when we were working together and I think it's a shame to end things in such a bad way. And, well... I know I overreacted but, well, under the circumstances..."

It was late and Sam had a headache, so she stepped in front of Abby and put her hand on her arm to get her attention. Abby stopped abruptly and looked at the older woman.

"Abby, I'm confused. What's wrong?"

"Oh, right. Well, I wanted to apologise for before, you know, in the observation room when I snapped. Gibbs thinks apologies are a sign of weakness, and they can be, but they can also be nice to receive." She smiled sheepishly at Sam and tilted her head to one side, shrugging slightly.

"It's ok, Abby. I've been in enough situations like this one, when your friends are in danger, to know that at times you can feel totally helpless, and then you just lash out at whoever's closest."

"I know you have. That's why I want to apologise."

"How do you know?"

"Been talking to Vala. You know, she's quite an interesting lady." Abby started speaking faster and faster, becoming more and more animated, her eyes wide with excitement. "Did you know she's actually from outer space? She offered to set me up with a few of her old friends. Anyway, she told me some of the adventures you guys have had. Did you really blow up a sun? And Daniel, has he really died multiple times? It must have been an amazing, wild ride."

"It has and yes, they're both true."

"Wow." Abby just stood there, looking at Sam, before she looked around her as if just coming out of a dream. "So, have you seen Gibbs? I went to see Kate and he wasn't there."

Sam blinked at Abby's abrupt change of topic and took a moment before replying. "He's talking to General O'Neill in the commissary." Sam indicated with her thumb over her shoulder.

"Oh, well, I'll catch him later." Abby spotted Gibbs in the commissary and was content, knowing that General O'Neill was looking after him.

She turned back to Sam. "You know, I was thinking that we really haven't shown you our best teamwork here. We're usually much better than this. I mean, I know we caught the baddy but Kate got shot, McGee got knocked out, Gibbs... well, Gibbs is all over the place... I'm sure even you can see that. No, I didn't mean that like it sounded... stupid Abby. I meant, you haven't really known him and it takes a long time to get past the gruff exterior. And then Vala said Kate spent ages asking you if you were having an affair with the General. I mean, that really isn't like us. Sure, we ask questions and sometimes get a little hurt, but we've really been off our game this week. Maybe it's just finding out about all of this. You deal with it every day, but wow... It's amazing."

When Abby finally stopped to draw breath Sam realised that she was almost on the floor, laughing. Boy, could the woman cram big things into small sentences. It was hard keeping up with her as she jumped from one thing to another without a break.

"Thanks, Abby, I really needed that. And about your team's performance, don't worry, you should read some of _our_ early mission reports. We were totally clueless."

Abby tilted her head to one side, now totally serious. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Shoot."

Abby did a dramatic look around her to check if anyone was listening. "_Are_ you having an affair with the General? 'Cause he's _hot_," she said in a whisper.

Sam went a lovely shade of pink; she wasn't used to this type of conversation from someone on base. The closest she had come was Vala, and that was only when they weren't on duty.

"Uh... well... no affair..."

"But?"

"Well... we _are_ together..."

"I knew it! I _knew_ Kate was right. Just wait until I tell Tony! He totally ignored Kate. Huh, some investigator _he_ is." She was about to move away when Sam grabbed her arm.

"Wait, Abby. This isn't something you can shout about around the base."

"Oh, I get it. It's a secret and all. Wait... is it allowed?"

Sam sighed and resigned herself to telling at least some of the story about her personal life. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about Jack, it was just that they really didn't know anyone who didn't know the story and so she wasn't used to talking about it.

"Look, General O'Neill was my CO. He got transferred, so did I, so we were no longer in the same chain of command, and then we started dating." Sam decided to leave the cabin details exactly where they belonged, between her, Jack and their two best friends. She was pretty sure the President hadn't even been told that little gem of information.

"Ok. So, why is it a secret?"

"Because Jack is important in D.C. and I'm important here. The President decided it was best not to complicate things."

"Wow! You actually had to run the plans for your love life past the _President_?" Abby's voice had risen by an octave.

"Yeah. Well, Jack did. I'm very glad not to have been involved in _that_ conversation." Sam chuckled.

Abby was about to launch into another round of questions when the PA system clicked on.

"NCIS team to the infirmary, stat."

"Kate!" Abby cried and ran off.

Before Sam had a chance to follow her, Gibbs and Jack barrelled through the doorway, almost knocking her down.

"Come on, Gunny, this way's the fastest!" Jack yelled, and grabbed Sam by the arm. The three ran off together.

The beeping increased in volume as Ducky got closer to the infirmary. He could distinguish the alarm buzzer from the beeping of her heart beat but that wasn't sounding good, either. He rounded the final corner to see Abby, Jethro, General O'Neill and Colonel Carter coming towards him from the other direction.

"Ducky, what is it?" Abby cried out as she ran up to him, ahead of the three behind her.

"I only just got here, Abby. Let me find out," he tried to placate her.

"Do it, Ducky!" Gibbs ordered, clearly trying to stop himself from running into the room.

A young woman came out into the hallway and they all rushed over to her. It didn't bode well that her hands were covered in blood.

"Agent Gibbs, I need to ask you something about Agent Todd."

"Is she ok, Doc?" Jack jumped in.

"No, Sir, she's haemorrhaging. Agent Gibbs, I need to know if Agent Todd made any kind of living will. We're doing our best but we're about to step over the boundary of 'any extraordinary means' and I need to know if she wanted that."

"She never said," Gibbs said quietly. He'd been around enough hospital scenes to know that what was being discussed meant that Kate was close to death. He was suddenly filled with dread.

"As far as I know, Doctor, she made no such will," Ducky interjected.

"Very good, we'll continue then. Please wait out here. We'll do the best we can."

"May I observe?" Ducky asked. "I'm a doctor. Then I can report her condition to the others."

"Ok. You'll find some spare scrubs just inside," the doctor said, pushing open the door and rushing back in. Ducky held the door open as he looked at Gibbs, then entered the infirmary, the door swinging shut behind him.

Before any of them had a chance to move, Tony shuffled out of the infirmary, almost bumping into Gibbs.

"What the hell happened, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.

Tony just looked at Gibbs, not able to say anything for a moment. He was looking as white as a sheet and Abby rushed to hug him. "Oh, Tony."

He hugged Abby back before looking back at Gibbs. "I don't know, Boss. I was doing my report, talking to her, you know, keeping her in touch with what was going on. Then the machines went nuts and she was choking and there was blood... everywhere." Tony stopped talking and was staring straight ahead.

"Jack, come on, let's leave them together..." Sam started.

Gibbs quickly looked at Jack. "No, stay. You know the people here. You can get some information for us," he said forcibly.

"Ok, let's just get ourselves a seat." Jack guided the group to the chairs at the end of the corridor and they all sat down.

As soon as Gibbs sat down, however, he got up and started to pace. He couldn't just sit there while Kate was hurt, while Kate was possibly dying. Oh, he couldn't do this. He'd arrived home from Kuwait knowing that Shannon was dead. Both she and his beautiful little girl had already been buried. He had already begun to deal with it and plan his revenge, almost before he visited the grave. That had been hard enough, but he didn't think he could be here, waiting while Kate's life was hanging in the balance. He suddenly stopped walking. Wait a minute, had he just compared his feelings for Shannon, his first wife and the love of his life, with those he had for Kate? In every other relationship that he'd been in since Shannon's death, he'd deliberately shut down any feelings he'd had whenever they'd started to deepen, even when he'd married them. He knew it was wrong but he couldn't seem to stop it at the time. But this, this was different.

Suddenly the door opened and Ducky appeared. Gibbs immediately rushed over to him.

"Ducky, what is it?"

"Uh... Jethro, she's stable at the moment." Ducky looked around at the others before looking back at Gibbs and lowering his voice. "Jethro, we need to speak alone."

Ducky took Gibbs' arm and guided him away from the others.

"Jethro, Kate had some complications with her lungs. The bullet nicked one and caused some breathing trouble."

"DiNozzo said there was a lot of blood."

"Yes, it built up in the lung and she was coughing it up." Ducky tried to explain without too much medical jargon.

"But she _is_ going to be ok?"

Ducky took a deep breath. "Yes, Caitlin and her child should be fine, although both will need strict monitoring."

"Good." Gibbs was about to walk away when it hit him. "Ducky, what did you just say?"

"You heard, Jethro. Agent Todd is around 5 weeks pregnant."

"Should you be telling me this?" Ducky was usually so strict when it came to patient confidentiality.

"Well, I'm assuming that I'm talking to the baby's father. Would I be correct?"

It was like a curtain had come down over Gibbs' face, removing all emotion from it. "I really don't know, Ducky. You'd have to ask Agent Todd," Gibbs said curtly, then walked past him to speak to the others.

"What's going on, Boss?" McGee asked from his wheelchair he wheeled himself as quickly as possible down the hall from his room. He'd heard the commotion and had wanted to know what was happening.

"Kate's doing ok, just a problem with her lungs."

"Can we see her, please?" Abby asked, mainly directing her question at Ducky.

"Not yet, my dear. She's asleep now and will be for quite a while. Why don't you all go and get some sleep. You'll be able to see her in the morning once she's woken up." Ducky knew they may not want to leave but he also needed to give Gibbs time with Kate alone.

Abby and Tony reluctantly left, returning Tim to his room and then walking towards the elevator. Abby looked back at the others just once, with worry etched on her face, before the doors closed on them.

Jack and Sam stood as the three left. Jack looked at Gibbs and paused, not sure what to say. "We'll see you tomorrow." Gibbs just nodded in reply.

Sam very gently laid her hand on Gibbs arm. "She'll be fine. We have the best medical staff here."

"I know. Thanks."

Jack and Sam turned and walked down the corridor, planning on grabbing their briefcases and going home. Gibbs turned to leave as well.

"Jethro," Ducky said quietly, waiting for Sam and Jack to be out of earshot before continuing. "Do you not wish to see her, talk to her?"

"Tell me something, Ducky. Would she have known?"

"Possibly. Some women know almost immediately. For others it takes months before they realise they're pregnant."

"No, would she have known there was a chance?"

"I expect so, if she wasn't on any permanent form of contraception."

"That's all I need to know," Gibbs said, and quickly walked off.

"Jethro, you're being very unreasonable. She may not have thought anything of it!" Ducky called down the corridor as Gibbs passed Jack and Sam.

"Gunny, listen to the man. You're throwing everything away."

"No, Sir, I did that 5 weeks ago."

"Oh, dear," Ducky said from behind Jack.

"You said it, Doctor, although I was going to say, Oh, Crap."


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks for the reviews for chapter 12. They do make me smile. Well on we go to chapter 13.

Chapter 13

Kate woke up feeling incredibly groggy and in a ridiculous amount of pain. She tried to open her eyes and even that was an effort. Once she got one slightly open she tried to move, but that was a big mistake. Kate swore the pain started at her big toe and didn't stop until it hit her hair.

"Agent Todd, stay still, please. You needed surgery to repair your lung. Sudden movements could cause problems." The woman, whom Kate couldn't see, had a calming voice. She tried to respond to the woman but couldn't talk. "Please don't struggle. You have a tube to help you breathe. We can take it out once the doctor has seen you."

Another voice and a shadow appeared. "Agent Todd, I'm Doctor Lam. Can you open your eyes?" Kate opened one eye and forced the other one to follow. "Good. Now I need you to listen to me and answer by blinking: once for yes, twice for no. Do you understand?"

Kate blinked once.

"Ok. Are you feeling like you could breathe on your own? Are your lungs fighting the machine?"

Geez, why did the Doc start with the difficult questions? Kate concentrated on what her body was telling her and quickly realised that she was fighting the machine.

She blinked once.

"Ok. Are you feeling any sharp pains in your chest or side?" Again Kate concentrated. No, there was a dull ache but nothing she would describe as a sharp pain.

She blinked twice.

"Good. I'm going to remove the tube now. Once I disconnect it from the machine, I'm going to get you to breathe deeply, then I'll remove it when you exhale. Do you understand?"

Kate blinked once to show she understood.

Seconds later Kate was breathing normally.

"Where's… my… team?" she stuttered through the question, finding it difficult to talk when her throat was so dry and a bit sore now that the tube had been removed.

"Here are some ice chips to help your throat. That should make it a bit easier to talk and swallow. As for your team, it's now 5.30am. They went to bed once they'd been assured you'd be ok as you weren't expected to awaken until morning." The doctor smiled. "Don't worry, we're calling them now."

"Gibbs... just... Gibbs."

"Ok, we'll get an airman to get him."

Kate lay back on the pillows and was unable to prevent herself from falling asleep. The next time she awoke Gibbs was sitting beside her, looking very uncomfortable, and Kate assumed it wasn't just the hard chair that was to blame.

"Hey," she said quietly.

Gibbs head jerked up and he looked at her. "Hi," he began lamely.

"You ok?" Kate looked at him and tried to see past the mask that he always wore.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Gibbs smiled at her but it was a weak one that disappeared quickly.

"I suppose, only you look like something's wrong."

"Yeah... well…"

"What is it?" she asked weakly. "Is something wrong with me, with the others?" Kate was starting to get upset.

Gibbs shook himself and realised how his statement had been taken by Kate. "No, it's nothing like that."

"Gibbs... talk to me."

Gibbs stood abruptly. "You need to speak to the Doctor. I'll go get her." With that he walked off, calling himself all sorts of names that usually involved the word 'coward'.

Kate waited, getting more and more anxious. What had Gibbs been afraid to tell her? Why hadn't he stayed?

A woman Kate assumed was another doctor walked out of the other room towards her. "Agent Todd, your boss asked me to discuss your condition with you."

Kate tried to sit up straighter but was hindered by a blinding pain shooting through her chest. She fell back against the pillows and put a hand to her chest, grimacing.

"Are you ok?" Kate nodded in the affirmative. "Do you need something for the pain?" Kate was still grimacing but shook her head. "Sure? Ok. Well, let one of the nurses know if the pain gets to be too bad. So, we had to remove a bullet and perform surgery on your right lung but I'm pleased to say that both you and the foetus seem well and I expect a full recovery."

Kate stared at the woman for a long moment. "Eh... the what?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose it is young, the baby, Agent Todd. You're pregnant and the baby is fine."

"Pregnant? No, that's impossible! You need to check again."

Gibbs, standing just outside the door, was more than a little surprised at the developments in the room. Kate sounded so certain, as if there was no way she could be pregnant. Perhaps she'd used protection and couldn't believe it hadn't worked but it sounded like more than that. He needed to know.

"I assure you, Agent Todd, you're pregnant. The blood tests are conclusive."

"No, you're wrong," Kate said, with tears about to fall. "Please get Agent Gibbs. I need to see him," she said strongly, with eyes glistening.

"I'm here, Kate," Gibbs said, walking into the room.

"Is this why you left, because you think she's telling you the truth and I kept it from you?" Kate asked forcefully.

"Kate, Ducky says it's true," he replied in an even tone.

"Well, Ducky's wrong, and if you're not man enough to talk to me about this then maybe you shouldn't be here!"

"Agent Todd, I'm a little confused. Why do you believe you're not pregnant?" the Doctor asked, having remained close to her patient.

"Because too many doctors have told me it's not possible. Look, I really don't want to talk about it. Ask Ducky, he's read my file." With that Kate turned away from them and faced the wall. The doctor was quite surprised and went to double check her findings; she didn't want to get the woman's hopes up if she wasn't pregnant.

Gibbs was in the middle of the room, berating himself for being a coward and a disgraceful human being, when Ducky came in behind him.

"Ah, Jethro, how is Caitlin this morning?"

Gibbs spun around to face him. "Not here, Duck, let's go get some coffee."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

(This continues the story but goes back a few hours. Is happening at the same time as Kate is waking in the infirmary. Thanks for reading, enjoy!)

Jack and Sam had arrived home from the base and gone straight to bed. Sam had then been tossing and turning all night. She was either awake or in the middle of a nightmare that felt so real she'd prefer to be awake. As the night wore on she spent minutes awake then fell back into the same recurring dream. She would then wake herself up and the cycle would begin all over again.

By 4am Jack had had enough. He'd known something was niggling at her; she very rarely asked him to stay longer than planned and she almost never hugged him so tight in bed that she'd constrict his breathing. He knew it couldn't be anything to do with work, however. Heck, he got all the memos and he actually read the ones that were related to her. Logically he could tell himself that he needed to know everything about his top team but he was man enough to admit that he skirted over the information about the other members to focus on Sam. He tried to breathe as Sam's grip tightened once more. Time to resolve this situation right now.

He disentangled himself from her and tried to shake her awake, very gently. Luck was not on Jack's side, though, as he woke her she shot up on the bed, smacking him on the nose. He yelped and whacked his head on the wooden headboard as he reared back. By the time Sam was fully conscious Jack had a bleeding nose and a nasty cut on the back of his head.

"Jack, what's wrong? Did something attack you?" she cried, and looked around for would-be assailants.

"Only you, Sam. Crap it hurts."

"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry. Here, lie back and I'll get a cloth to clean you up." Sam jumped out of bed, full of remorse for her actions, while Jack tried desperately not to show that a bleeding nose and sore head could drive a tough general to tears. He could hear her rummaging in the connecting bathroom and was a little concerned by the constant banging and crashing which made his head thump just a little more.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to go to the base? Do you need anything?" Sam shouted from the other room.

"Maybe some Advil!" he shouted back.

"Ok, got it. You sure you don't want anything else?"

"No, it's fine, Sam. Just come back and lie down. Look, the bleeding's stopped and, well, there isn't much in my head to worry about losing, anyway."

Sam moved to the bed and sat down gingerly. She handed the pills and a glass of water to him and then put the glass on the bedside table when he was done. Gently she pressed the cloth to his head and gave him some tissues to clean his nose. He was right, the bleeding had stopped, and she began to calm down just a little.

As she took care of him, Jack was watching her, trying to read what was happening but decided words would actually be needed.

"So, you gonna tell me what's going around in your head or do I have to bleed some more?" he asked, trying to smile but only managing to wince instead.

Sam squirmed on the bed. "It doesn't matter…" she began.

"Yeah, Sam, it does. What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Nothing. Really, it's nothing." Sam inched away from him on the bed, unwilling to have this discussion when he was in pain.

"Sam, whatever it is, my mind is already thinking the worst. So please, just tell me."

"Honestly, it really is nothing important... except, well, I was thinking about what we could've been doing last weekend."

"You mean in DC?"

"Yes... well... no, not really in DC." Sam started to blush for reasons only known to her.

"Sam, you've just given me a pretty good crack on the head. You need to help me out here!"

Sam sat back and sighed. She supposed she should just start the conversation she'd planned to have if she had gone to visit him in DC. She looked at Jack.

"Jack, where do you think of as home?"

"Huh?" Jack gave the only reply he could to this left-field question.

"Well, you sold your house - which I understood. You live in a very small place in DC where you've barely unpacked. Then you have the cabin and a drawer here. Where do you think of as _home?_"

"Uh... well... I suppose the cabin's very important to me... and I like it here. DC not so much. I'm not sure what you're asking, Sam." The thoughts flying through his head were really beginning to worry him.

"Oh God, this is not the way it was supposed to be." Sam stood and paced. Jack just sat on the bed and watched her, totally confused. He wondered if the bang on the back of his head was more serious than he'd thought as he had no idea what Sam was talking about. He gingerly reached up and felt for a lump, trying to hide his wince from Sam.

"Look, I know we're based in two different places and it might seem like the stupidest plan ever, but I really want to be with you, as much as possible. Be somewhere that is ours, not mine or yours." Sam kept pacing, glancing at Jack from time to time.

"Colonel Carter, are you asking me to move in with you?" Jack sat up straight and smirked, quite pleased with himself that he hadn't screwed up anything... this time.

"Well, yeah," Sam replied cautiously, finally daring to stop pacing and look straight at Jack.

"But not here?"

"No. This is my place - I painted it, I bought all the furniture. And, anyway, it's not big enough for both of us all the time," and anyone or anything else that might just happen to come along in the future, Sam added silently to herself. She looked at Jack and tried to gauge his reaction. She didn't expect him to be annoyed - perhaps a little surprised - but she was sure he'd like the idea. She stood at the end of the bed and bit her lip in a gesture that was completely unconscious.

"Ok, so, let's get a place together. Is this what you wanted to discuss this weekend?" Jack said it in such an off-handed way that Sam was momentarily taken aback. Complete and immediate acceptance had never crossed her mind as being one of Jack's reactions.

"Well, yes, and..." She figured she should go all the way so she walked over to the drawers against the other wall. "This," she finished, as she walked back and handed him the folded piece of paper.

Jack opened it and was completely speechless.


	15. Chapter 15

Okay folks. This is the end to the investigation part of the story but still 2 chapters to go. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for the reviews and alerts. Really appreciate that.

Chapter 15

"So, what's going on, Tony? Is Kate ok?" McGee asked, putting on a set of blue BDUs that he'd been given, as his clothes had been ripped in the fall in the alleyway.

"The doctor says she's ok, awake and talking, but she won't let us in until she runs some tests and talks to Kate about something," Tony replied from where he was sitting on a chair, resting his legs on McGee's bed, casually flipping through a magazine. He'd found the air force version of "Babes in Uniform" and had spent a delightful few hours with his newest acquisition. He was very impressed with their general fitness and how they looked in Dress Blues.

"You do know that those women aren't really in the air force?" McGee said scornfully.

"Probie, don't ruin the fantasy world of your senior agent. That's rule number 48."

"There's no way Gibbs has a rule about fantasies," McGee said, turning to look for his badge and weapon.

"McGee, you're awake, you're alive!" Abby gushed from the door, before rushing in and squeezing him in a bear hug.

"I'm fine, Abby," McGee replied, carefully disentangling himself from her arms.

"So, how's Kate?" she rounded on Tony, demanding an answer.

"She's awake, talking, and no, you can't see her yet."

Abby pouted. "Oh, right." Then she looked at both guys with an expectant look on her face. "So, what are you guys doing now?"

"General Landry asked us to give him our reports so that he can authorise the military funerals," Tim replied.

"Ok. Well, I'll come and give him mine, too, then we can go and see Kate, right?"

Tony swung his legs off the bed. "Right, team, let's go."

* * *

In the briefing room Daniel and Teal'c had just finished presenting their first ever murder reports; not something they wished to repeat. Cam and Vala had already given their reports. Cam had gone first, being the leader of SG-1, still unhappy at the minor role he'd played in the investigation. Vala had gone next, as experience had shown that that was preferable to having her sit there, restlessly awaiting her turn. And she'd been more than happy to enlighten them all as to the huge role she'd played.

General Landry was very pleased that the events had turned out so positively, given the circumstances. He wasn't happy that all four members of one of his teams had been murdered on their doorsteps, but it would have been a great deal worse if he'd had to go through the process of admitting that they were traitors and then having to stop their benefits from going to their next of kin. He only hoped that the NCIS director would be happy with his decision; he'd seen Gibbs after Agent Todd had haemorrhaged last night and, to be honest, he was concerned. Gibbs had given control of wrapping up the case to DiNozzo, citing personal reasons. Landry didn't believe he'd ever stopped being involved in an investigation before; he got the impression that Gibbs always finished any job he started. So this morning when he'd found DiNozzo napping in the infirmary he'd instructed him to come and present his report ASAP.

"General Laundry, are you free to hear our briefing now?" Tony asked, walking in to the room.

"Yes. Actually, it's perfect timing. SG-1 has just finished giving me their reports. Please, come in and take a seat." He looked around at the four SG-1 team members. "SG-1, stay and listen to our NCIS friends. We'll be able to finalise all the reports together and then we can put this crisis to bed." Landry gestured with his hand to invite the three NCIS personnel to sit.

"General Landry," Tony began, "Could you outline the content of SG-1's reports for us before we give you ours?"

"Ah, yes… Is there anything in particular you wish to know?" Landry replied.

"Well, we've written our preliminary report and I was just curious as to whether our report matches yours," Tony said. His curiosity had been getting the better of him all morning as he'd written the report with McGee.

"We're equally curious, Agent DiNozzo. Please present your report then we'll fill you in on our findings and what we were discussing as you came in. We can fill in any gaps you may have."

"Uh... Sir before you begin, could I ask, where are Jack and Sam? Shouldn't they be here as well?" Daniel enquired as the newcomers took their seats.

"General O'Neill called and said that he'd been brought up to speed and didn't feel he needed to be here, that officially, as head of the SGC, I could handle the debriefing. He and I will get together later to go over what transpires here today. He also told me that he and Colonel Carter were taking the morning off." Landry looked at the SGC members. "You're all to meet them in town once we're finished."

"Really?" Daniel and Cam questioned together.

"Yes, so let's finish this so you can get going. Agent DiNozzo, can you begin?"

"Yes, General. As Senior Field Agent and standing in for Agent Gibbs, I've written the preliminary NCIS report into the deaths of Colonel Milton, Captain Marshall and Lieutenants Andrews and Millar. I've made copies of the full report for you, General, but I can just give you the important bits now, if you want."

"That will be fine, Agent DiNozzo." Landry was very happy as he was used to Daniel who, when giving a report, tended to go on for hours.

"Sir, we've investigated the deaths of the four marines who we've classified as working on a top secret project based out of Cheyenne Mountain. However, there's nothing in our report that discusses the nature of their work. We're designating their deaths as murder by persons known. After having investigated these deaths, we've concluded that they were carried out by people who were a threat to this country. And, after detailed interviews and investigations, we're prepared to state that the marines died defending this country and, as a result of this, we recommend that they be buried with full honours and that their next of kin be eligible for all death benefits."

"Very clear, Agent DiNozzo. That all seems in order. Is there anything you wish to add, Ms Sciuto?"

"No, General, not unless you'd like me to go through what I found, but my forensics report is in the full report. Ducky... Dr Mallard... will give his to you later this morning when he's finished."

"Good. And there's no need for you to report your findings. I think we all know about those and I'll read the full report when I get it." Landry turned to Tony. "Have you cleared this report with Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes, General. I spoke to him earlier and he instructed me to brief you."

"Yes, I was aware you were to be briefing us, but does he know the content of the report?"

"Yes, General," Tony replied, although he wasn't sure exactly how much Gibbs had taken in when they'd met after Kate's emergency. Tony was frankly worried about the Boss and what Kate's injury was doing to him.

"Well, for the most part, Agent DiNozzo, your report covers our findings. However, we can perhaps fill you in on what will happen in the investigation now."

"General," Abby interrupted, "Do you mind letting us know who was behind all of this? I mean, it seems a little extreme, killing a whole team." She'd been wondering about that the whole week that they'd been there.

"Teal'c, perhaps you can enlighten Ms Scuito."

Teal'c gave him a slight nod to indicate his acceptance of the order then turned to the NCIS agents. "The attack was ordered by a group of men known as the Lucian Alliance. They have taken control of many areas and trading in the galaxy since we destroyed the Goa'uld."

"Do you know specifically who arranged it all?" Tony asked.

"No," Cam replied, "And we doubt we'll find out."

Landry sighed. "Yes, it's a real shame that we can't catch the member of the Lucian Alliance who sanctioned all this." He really would have preferred a complete end to this nightmare.

"Yes, Sir," Cam agreed, "But I believe it's fair to conclude that the Kassa train will not be coming here." The three NCIS agents all looked at Cam, not having been privy to the discussion the members of the SGC had just had concerning this very matter.

"Why do you say that?" McGee asked curiously.

"Well, after Teal'c got the Jaffa to talk, they admitted that the only reason we were selected for attack was because we didn't know anything about it. Now that we do, we can be on the lookout for the train using our ships."

"I'm sorry, General, how could ships find a train? They both run on different surfaces," McGee asked, causing others at the table to smirk and Tony to roll his eyes.

"Oh, McGoo, they're talking about vehicles that travel in space!" Tony looked from McGee to Landry. "Sorry, General, he might have gone to MIT but common sense sometimes takes a backseat." He refrained from hitting McGee on the back of the head like Gibbs would have done, but it was hard.

"Yes, well… all we can now do is make the SG teams aware of the particulars and they'll all be able to keep their eyes open and their ears to the ground to see if they can discover anything further whenever they're off world. However, the Jaffa seem convinced that they won't come now that we know what they were planning." Landry answered looking strangely at the antics of the NCIS senior agent.

"General," Tony asked, "What is to be done with the Jaffa?" He was a little worried about the paperwork needed to process aliens for prosecution.

"That is yet to be determined. Teal'c would prefer them to face Jaffa law with the Free Jaffa. However, the Joint Chiefs would prefer them to remain here. It's a difficult situation," Landry finished.

"How so?" McGee asked.

"General, if I may," Daniel interrupted, sitting straighter in his seat. Landry nodded; he and SG-1 had just been discussing this very situation and Daniel, for all his faults, was very good at explaining 'difficult situations'.

"You see, out there they do things differently to us. Jaffa are, and have been for centuries, the weapon of choice for their leaders, the Goa'uld. They follow orders, no matter what the order is. It's very hard to punish them for that, even when they've killed four people."

"That doesn't seem very satisfactory for the families," Vala huffed from the other side of the table from Daniel, continuing her argument from earlier.

"No, it doesn't," Daniel admitted. "But we also have the practical problem of what to do with them. We can't try them in a court of law, we can't jail them, we don't have any facilities here to incarcerate them." Daniel looked back at Landry. "So, General, what do you think will happen?"

General Landry looked round the room and knew he would never satisfy everyone. He took a breath; this was not actually up to him. "I think it's a decision for someone with a higher rank than me, maybe even the one on the other end of the red phone." He pointed to his office, and even the NCIS agents realised that the only person he could be talking about was the President.

"General Landry," Abby began, waiting to get the General's attention, "I was wondering if the Jaffa had received any help from anyone on earth?" asked.

"Why do you ask that?" Daniel jumped quickly in before Landry had a chance to respond, wishing to defend any member of the base from another attack.

"Oh, I'm not accusing anyone. In fact, I have no evidence, but I wondered how the Jaffa got the weapons that you guys use here." Abby visibly moved back in her seat, defending her question.

Landry looked at Teal'c. "Teal'c?"

Teal'c looked at Abby. "Ms Sciuto, the Jaffa informed me that they purchased the weapons at a market off-world. The Tau'ri are famous as the destructors of the Goa'uld. Their weapons are highly sought after," Teal'c answered Abby's original question, explaining what he'd discovered both from his trip off-world with Vala and his interrogation of the Jaffa.

"Really, how much are they worth?" Vala asked, forever looking for a deal to be made.

Landry frowned at Vala. "Another time, Miss Mal Doran." He looked around at everyone present. "Now, if there are no other questions I believe that concludes this investigation." He looked at the four members of the SGC. "SG-1, you're needed in town. General O'Neill said to meet him and Colonel Carter at the picnic area beside the lake in Memorial Park. And before you ask," he said, noticing all the questioning looks on their faces and Vala about to ask a question, "I am not allowed to answer any questions." He smirked as he looked at the three NCIS agents, "Agent DiNozzo, Agent McGee and Ms Suito, it has been a pleasure, although unfortunately under such tragic circumstances. I'm sorry to say that I expect we may meet in a professional capacity again, although it would be good to share the investigative load with an agency we can trust."

"Thank you, General," Tony answered for all three of them.

"Right. We'll arrange a jet home for all of you once Agent Todd is able to be moved. Dismissed."

SG-1 stood and left with some questions to be answered by their former leader. Vala was particularly curious as to what was going on and talked non-stop as the group left the room. It took all of Daniel's training and patience not to ask Teal'c to knock her out – anything to get her to shut up.

The NCIS team members also rose from the table. McGee and Tony turned to leave but noticed that Abby remained, hovering around the briefing room table.

Landry also noticed her hovering there. "Ms Sciuto, do you have something to add to the briefing?"

"No, General... well... I was just wondering... you see, I've heard about it, seen artefacts brought through it, met people who've come through it from another planet... Well, General, do you think I could just see it? I promise not to go through it, really. I just want to see it work. Please, General?" Abby begged.

Landry had to laugh. "Well, Ms Sciuto, you're in luck. SG-13 are due to leave in 10 minutes. You can meet us in the control room and see the Stargate in action for yourself."

"Really? Wow!" Abby just stood there, for once at a loss for words, eyes opened wide. Both McGee and Tony looked at her, surprised that something had finally rendered their team mate speechless.

"General, can I stay too?" McGee asked quietly, with a hopeful look on his face.

Tony just rolled his eyes and put on his professional face. "You two stay here but don't get into any trouble. I'll go find Gibbs and report in." He walked away with authority, apparently above the childish excitement of his two team mates. But what he wouldn't tell anyone was that he'd been in the control room during their first night here and had happened to see a team arrive. He smirked at the memory; the only person who knew was the female airman whom General Landry had ordered to keep an eye on him. Ah, yes, good times! Well, Gibbs always said he had a girl in every port. How right he was. He almost walked straight into Ducky as the doctor stood in the doorway.

Ducky just gave Tony an exasperated look. "Jethro's with Kate. He wished me to check whether you'd finished the briefing."

Tony nodded as if to a school principal who was checking up on him.

"Ah, Doctor, welcome!" Landry greeted Ducky. "Please, come in. I was just telling your agents that we're finished here and that I'll arrange a jet for you as soon as Agent Todd is able to be moved."

"Good. I'll submit my medical report to you and to the NCIS director. Do you wish to go over it with me now to clarify anything you might not understand? Or shall I just send it to you?"

"No, Doctor, that won't be necessary. I assume there are no new surprises following your preliminary autopsy reports?"

"No, Sir. I wish to add, however, that my autopsy of the alien, the Jaffa, is not included in my report to the Director, but I wondered if your medical personnel would like a copy of it. I expect that I can't take a copy for myself…" He left the question hanging wistfully.

"Sorry, Doctor, we don't call it Top Secret for nothing." Landry smiled at the disappointment etched on the doctor's face. "We'll see that anyone here who needs to see a copy of the reports gets one, thank you."

Ducky turned to his team mates. "Jethro said that you three can have today off." He turned back to Landry. "He wondered if you, General, could recommend an activity for them that would keep them out of trouble."

"I'm sure something can be arranged," Landry replied, realising that these agents could be as bad as SG-1 when it came to finding trouble where no one else could.


	16. Chapter 16

_Authors Note: Ok folks second last chapter, hope you really enjoy this one. It might surprise you!!!!! Thanks for reviews over the last week, they really give me a boost. Ok on we go……._

Chapter 16

Jack spotted the group coming towards him across the grass.

"They're here," he said to Sam, who was staring across the lake.

He couldn't actually believe what was happening. He couldn't believe he'd managed to organise everything in the last 8 hours. When she'd shown him the piece of paper he'd been speechless for nearly a minute.

_~ Flashback ~_

_Jack just stared at the piece of paper in his__hand, dumbfounded. "Uh... what... how...? He looked up at Sam._

"_Well, I went to the town hall, handed in the paperwork, and... here we are," she answered nervously, unsure, wondering__what he was thinking._

"_Didn't I need to be there, too?" He hadn't done this often – well, once - but he was fairly sure of the protocol; he was fairly certain both parties needed to be there._

_Sam shuffled nervously as she stood beside the bed. "Well... I kinda told them you were on assignment and..." She knew she wasn't going to get away with telling him anything but the truth, so just went for it. "Well, if you _must_ know, I... usedtheNationalSecurityspeech," she finished quickly, blushing. She looked everywhere but at Jack, not exactly proud of what she'd done, but knew that it had needed to be done._

"_But still... what about all the medical forms and... you know... stuff?"_

"_Well, all you need is a form saying we're both free from those pesky diseases and... well... you had a physical done when you were here last month and... ok, so Carolyn is a closet romantic like me," she finished stubbornly,__folding her arms across her chest, chin out, daring him to say something._

_By this point Jack was smiling smugly at Sam. Then looked at her sternly. "Colonel, are you saying that you got a doc to break confidentiality and then you lied to an officer of the court just to get us a valid marriage license?"_

"_Yep," she replied, smiling proudly at him._

"_Cool!" Jack lay back down on the bed._

"_Is that all you're going to say?" Sam was almost stamping her foot in annoyance._

_Jack looked at Sam from his prone position, thinking, coming up with nothing. He wasn't sure what he saw on Sam's face – hurt, anger, both? – and realised that this must actually be important to her, more important than he'd perhaps ever realised._

"_Nope." He jumped out of bed and stalked towards her with a small, predatory smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, forcing Sam to move backwards until her hip hit the chest of drawers. Jack reached up his hand and gently brushed a lock of hair from Sam's face. He looked deeply into her eyes, no longer smiling, and said, very quietly,__"Sam, will you marry me... here... today?"_

"_Yes!" she whispered back then began laughing and crying as Jack lifted her up and swung her around. This had been a better ending to the conversation than she'd dared hope for. _

_~ End Flashback ~_

So, here they were. As soon as the sun had even slightly risen over the mountains, Jack had gotten up and started to put his stars to good use.

Sam had called, and woken, her brother to tell him the news. She had expected him to just wish her luck and had been pleasantly surprised and deliriously happy when he'd run around the house, woken the rest of his family, and announced they'd be in Colorado Springs by midday. It helped that he'd gained a pilot's license a few years ago and had bought a small Cessna with the inheritance money he and Sam had split when their father had died. He just needed to file a flight plan and they would be on their way. Sam had told them not to dress up as it was only a small affair.

While Sam had spoken to her brother, Jack had phoned Cassie, who was in her first semester at the Air Force Academy. It had shocked and pleased both Sam and Jack that she had chosen to follow in their and Janet's footsteps. More importantly, she was getting on well and having a great time. Cassie had screamed down the phone when she'd heard the news and then had to apologise to her room mates as it was still early. She'd tried to get out of her morning classes but Jack was having none of it. She was ordered to meet them at the park at midday, and not a minute before, or there would be some serious punishment handed out.

Once that had been sorted out and he'd spoken to Landry - who had been invited to come but had declined, saying that it should only be family - Jack had been stunned to realise that he'd forgotten to organise a minister. So then he'd decided to really take the stars for a spin. He put a call into the Air Force Academy Chaplain and asked if he had a free hour during the day. After mentioning his rank a few – or a hundred - times, Jack was pleased to hear that the chaplain would be free at 12.30.

He was suddenly pulled back to the here and now when he noticed Sam waving to SG-1 as they walked towards them. They made an odd looking group - a bouncy, cheerful female; handsome men; and the sheer size of Teal'c with a Stetson on! – and it never failed to amuse Jack when he saw them. It also amazed him that for nearly 10 years they had been Earth's first line of defence, and yet the world was still here.

"Do you think they have any idea what we're doing?" Jack asked casually from beside her.

"I imagine Teal'c has some idea, but the rest of them? Nope, not a clue," Sam replied, smiling.

"That's what I thought. This could be fun." He rubbed his hands in glee, smirking evilly. He could have a lot of fun with this.

"Jack, what's going on? Why are we all here?" Daniel asked once he was in voice range.

"Well, Danny boy, why do you think we're here, in the beautiful outdoors?" Jack asked, baiting the younger man.

"Well, obviously I have no idea Jack, or I wouldn't have asked," Daniel replied snippily.

Vala was looking all around the park. "I thought you were paying for a fancy lunch... but obviously not," she said, pouting, looking round for any sign of fancy food. "Poor old Muscles here is going to waste away if he doesn't get any lunch," she mused out loud, much to Sam's amusement.

Daniel frowned at Vala before turning back to Jack. "Don't keep us in suspense, Jack. C'mon, why did you ask us to meet you?" Daniel directed the conversation back to them all being in the park.

Jack decided to take pity on him. And they did have a schedule to keep to, after all. "Well, Spacemonkey, you're here because Sam and I are getting married today and we thought it would be nice if you joined us," Jack said flippantly.

"Here? Really? Now?" Daniel said incredulously, with Cam's face showing he felt the same.

"But what about Cassie?"

"What about me, Daniel?" Cassie said, appearing behind the group.

"Uh… nothing… apparently."

"Hi, guys," Cassie said, hugging them all, reserving her biggest, longest hugs for Jack and Sam. "I knew it! I knew it was only a matter of time before you both came to your senses and got together! Congratulations!"

Once Sam and Jack had both been put down by Cassie, the others barrelled in. Surprisingly, Teal'c was first and, although he didn't say anything, hugged Sam tightly and gave Jack a Jaffa handshake. Daniel and Cam then took their turns, offering congratulations and handshakes or hugs.

Vala waited impatiently for her turn, finally giving Sam a huge hug before turning and hugging Jack, much to his embarrassment. "A wedding! I've never been to an Earth wedding before!" She was jumping up and down with excitement, but then suddenly stopped, a perplexed look on her face. "Sam, I thought you said a wedding was a big event with a cake and presents?" she asked, looking around, clearly unsure about why there were no presents there.

"It can be," Sam said, hugging Jack, and then looking at him. "But it can also be just two people telling each other that they want to spend the rest of their lives together."

Jack nodded, not taking his eyes from the woman in front of him.

"Guys, that's so romantic!" Cassie gushed.

"Ok, so, let's get on with it," Daniel announced, very happy with developments and keen for the opportunity to see his friends happy after so many years.

"We're not all here yet," Sam said, looking at her watch and then scouring the park.

"For whom are you waiting, Colonel Carter?" Teal'c spoke for the first time, but his eyes had shone with approval from the moment they'd arrived.

"My brother and his family," she replied.

"They're coming from California?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Mark has his own plane so they're flying over. They called to say they'd landed about an hour ago."

"Auntie Sam!" a girl's voice could be heard yelling out from across the park.

"There they are," Sam said, pointing to the family group wandering towards them. By this time the youngest of the three children, a little girl, was hurtling towards Sam, and Sam only just managed to scoop her niece up into a hug before she was knocked over. As soon as Mark, his wife and their other two children joined them, Sam greeted them and introduced them to her team mates.

"This is lovely, Sam," Mark said, looking around the park, clearly approving of his sister's choice of venue.

"Yeah, it is. Jack and I wanted somewhere outside and this fitted the bill. It reminds Jack of the lake at his cabin."

"I'm really happy for you, Sam," Mark whispered in her ear as he hugged her. He'd known since the day of their father's funeral that Jack was the right man for Sam. She hadn't introduced him as anyone special but it had been obvious just in the way he'd looked after her. A few months later when Sam had plucked up the courage to tell him she was in a new relationship he had immediately asked, 'So how's Jack?', completely amazing his brilliant little sister. A week later both officers had arrived in San Diego to see them and Mark had known then it was going to be for life, whether or not there was a wedding.

"General O'Neill, is everyone here now?" They all turned to see who'd joined them. A young chaplain stepped towards the group nervously, clearly in awe of a two star.

"Yup, let's get this show on the road. And informal, remember? Less of the General and Colonel and more of Jack and Sam."

"Yes, Sir," the young man answered.

"Nope, no 'Sirs'. This is my wedding, not a promotion ceremony."

"Yes, Sir... ah, General... ah..." The chaplain was blushing, obviously flustered. Fortunately for him Cassie then interrupted, taking the attention away from the poor young man.

"Wait, what about rings? You need rings!" Cassie proclaimed.

"We have them, Cass, don't worry. I bought them a long time ago. Always carry them with me." Jack smiled at Sam; she hadn't been told that last bit.

"Wow, Jack! And you call _Sam_ the romantic one."

"Yeah, well…" Jack nervously looked around him, blushing, embarrassed that his friends and colleagues had seen a glimpse of his hidden side. How was he going to be able to act the tough General after this?

"Let's get married, Jack," Sam whispered, squeezing his hand, and Jack smiled.

The group quickly arranged themselves in front of the chaplain, surrounding Sam and Jack. Everyone was smiling, even Teal'c.

"Let us begin. We are here today because General…"

"Uh uh," Jack butted in.

"Sorry. We are here today because, ah, Jack and Sam have decided to declare to each other and to you who are closest to them that they want to be together for the rest of their lives."

"It's about damn time," Daniel murmured.

"Indeed." Teal'c boomed.

"Here, here!" Cassie agreed... loudly.

"Look, can we let the man get on with it? He's on a tight schedule here." Jack glared at his friends, but Sam squeezed his hand and then nothing else mattered.

"I haven't met them before but they're truly legendary at the Academy. Colonel Carter was, and still is, the brightest student to have studied there and, well, everyone has heard stories about the General." The chaplain grinned, looked at Sam and Jack's team mates, and added, "I may have to ask you all some questions later to see if they're true." The chaplain laughed at his own joke and SG-1 just looked at him and smiled; they knew they wouldn't be able to say anything, anyway. "I have been informed that they would like a simple ceremony with only their vows and one reading. So let's begin."

"Is there anyone here who knows of any reason why General O'Neill and..." Noticing Jack's glare, the young chaplain cleared his throat and tried again. "Why Jack..." He glanced at Jack before continuing, "And... ah... Sam cannot be married?" There was a collective shaking of heads and Jack breathed a sigh of relief, after having eyeballed them all individually to make sure no one screwed up this day.

"Very well. Do you, Jack, take Sam to be your wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, and support her, for as long as you both shall live?"

Jack looked deeply into Sam's eyes, for once totally serious. "I do."

"Sam, do you take Jack to be your husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, and support him, for as long as you both shall live?"

Sam didn't take her eyes off Jack, and responded equally as seriously as Jack had. "I do."

"Now Sam and Jack have chosen a passage from the Bible, the first book of Corinthians to be exact. They hoped one of you would be willing to read it." The chaplain looked around with a questioning look.

Sam and Jack turned to their friends a little sheepishly; they had totally forgotten about this when everyone had arrived.

"Cass, we'd really like you to read it, if that's ok?" Jack asked, emotion clogging his voice.

"Me? Why me?" Cassie stammered, stunned at being asked.

"Because you're our daughter," Sam answered with tears in her eyes. "And this means a lot to both of us."

"Ok." Cassie replied, all chocked up. She had tears herself now. "Do you have a Bible?"

"We don't need one, Miss, I printed it out for you. The General asked for a modern version. You can find anything on the Internet."

Cassie hesitated, not really sure that she was the right person to ask; she'd never had anything to do with religion since she'd been here on Earth.

Daniel nudged her shoulder. "If it's the passage I think it is, it sums them up completely. Just wait 'til you read it."

Cassie gave him a smile and moved to stand beside Sam. She took the paper from the chaplain's hand, then cleared her throat and began in a quiet voice.

"Love never gives up."

'_They never have given up on each other,'_ Daniel thought.

"Love cares more for others than for self."

'_Well, that's the General to a T',_ Cam thought.

"Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  
Love doesn't strut,  
Doesn't have a swelled head,  
Doesn't force itself on others."

'_No, Jack never did try and force his feelings on Sam'_, Daniel remembered.

"Isn't always 'me first',  
Doesn't fly off the handle,  
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,  
Doesn't revel when others grovel."

'_This is exactly how O'Neill acts__with Colonel Carter_,' Teal'c mused.

"It takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,  
Puts up with anything,  
Trusts God always,  
Always looks for the best,  
Never looks back,  
But keeps going to the end."

Jack and Sam looked at each other and Jack nodded, confirming that he agreed with the passage.

Cassie stopped reading and took a deep breath, deeply moved. "You were right, Daniel, it was perfect."

"Thank you," Jack said sincerely, and both he and Sam hugged Cassie before she moved back to stand beside Daniel.

There were tears in many eyes as the chaplain continued.

"Jack and Sam have written their own vows, which they will recite at this point. However, the General... uh, Jack... said to remind you all that he only had a few hours to do this and not to, ah… criticise him." There were a few chuckles amongst those assembled, all hastily turning into coughs as Jack glared at them all. The chaplain smiled at the thought of anyone criticising the General to his face and managing to get away with it.

"Do you have the ring, General?" Jack didn't respond, totally captivated by Sam. "Uh, General, the ring?"

"Oh! Yeah… sorry." Jack searched his pockets, his face getting paler by the minute. "I had it a minute ago…"

Behind him Daniel slapped his forehead in disbelief. Cam was smiling, as was Vala, and Teal'c was almost - but not quite - grinning. Mark and his wife just looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud, Jack," Cassie whined, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, here it is," he said with relief as he pulled his hand from the buttoned thigh pocket of his slacks.

"Good. General, you may now place the ring on the Colonel's finger and say your vows." Jack slid the ring onto Sam's finger, fumbling slightly in his haste. He looked up at Sam after the ring was in place and grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

Jack, still holding Sam's hand, spoke from the heart. "Sam, I've loved you a lot longer and a lot more than I was supposed to." He smiled wryly at the memory of the za'tarc test years before. Sam smiled a watery smile back at him. "We've been to hell and back... literally... and I'm so pleased that you want to be my wife. Although I'm not sure why."

Daniel was about to make a comment when Cassie and Vala both whacked him in the stomach.

Jack continued, oblivious to the shenanigans going on behind him. "I promise to always be there for you, no matter what challenges we face." He wiped a tear from her cheek. "I love you, Sam... always, to the very end." He almost jumped straight to the kiss part but restrained himself by rubbing his fingers over the ring on Sam's hand.

The chaplain turned to Sam. "Colonel, do you have General O'Neill's ring?"

"Yes," she answered immediately, not removing her eyes from Jack's.

"You may now say your vows. Please place the ring on the General's finger." Sam slid the ring onto Jack's finger, concentrating solely, as usual, on the task at hand. She then looked back up at Jack, stared into his eyes, and began, with heartfelt emotion. "Jack, you've been my rock for nearly ten years. I never thought I'd find someone who would get me… all of me - the scientist, airman and woman. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone and I'm so happy you want to be with me. I love you, Jack… always, to the end." Sam repeated Jack's final sentence because it was also exactly how she felt.

Jack had wet eyes and all the females behind him were very glad that Cassie had brought a pack of tissues along.

The chaplain finished the ceremony. "Now, by the giving and receiving of rings and by the power invested in me by God, the air force and the state of Colorado, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Finally!" Jack said, grinning at Sam while she grinned back at him. There was clapping and cheering as Jack kissed his wife, grinning from ear to ear.

"I can't believe we just did that," Sam whispered.

"Yeahsureyabetcha," Jack whispered back.

* * *

_AN2: So hope we all liked the chapter. The reading is 1__st__ Corinthians 13 and from a translation called "The Message", which I obviously don't own._

_Thanks again, one more chapter to go._


	17. Chapter 17

Ok ---first things first -----sorry, sorry, sorry. Had not intended to keep this chapter hostage but real life has been completely manic. So this is the end. Hope you enjoy and thanks for continuing to read and review.

Chapter 17

Earlier, back at the base...

Gibbs had gone to visit Kate, feeling the need to apologise and to get some answers. He'd had a long conversation with Ducky, which had answered some things, but it was the conversation he'd had with General O'Neill the night before that was buzzing around his head as he entered the room, making him question his feelings. What exactly did he feel for her, for a member of his team? He'd had a rule about relationships on teams for so long, pretty much since it had all gone sour with Jen. It had been a long time since he'd thought about Jen. He knew she was doing well in the agency but their affair in Paris had made the No Relationships rule absolutely essential, at least for him. But now Kate was here and, thank God, still alive, so the question remained: what did he feel for her?

He quietly entered the room where Kate was and quickly saw that she was asleep. She looked so peaceful lying there that he really didn't want to disturb her. So he sat down and waited for her to wake up. He'd spoken to Tony and General Landry and had told Tony to handle the briefing. He knew it was unorthodox but he'd been up the whole night and just couldn't have faced an official briefing.

Gibbs sat there for over two hours, just watching Kate sleep. He shifted in his chair and switched his attention to the monitors keeping their watch on Kate. She wasn't in danger anymore but the doctor wanted her to be monitored - no he corrected himself, the doctor wanted _them_ to be monitored. He was struggling to believe it all; there was still no real evidence that the baby was his, but the doctor had assured him that the baby did exist. A baby, a real baby, like Kelly, his little girl who had been cruelly taken from him while he was out of the country. Wow, he could barely get his thought processes to work through that.

He thought back to his conversation with Ducky, which had been enlightening, to say the least. Ducky had been reluctant to say anything but Gibbs had persuaded him, after telling him about the conversation he'd overheard between Kate and the doctor. Ducky hadn't gone into any detail but had confirmed that Kate's medical file showed that she would be unlikely to conceive, never mind on the first try. Gibbs knew that he was unlikely to understand the medical jargon even if Ducky tried to explain in more detail, but he was feeling a desperate desire to know more. Logically he figured there were a few reasons why a woman couldn't conceive. However, even Ducky had been surprised that Kate couldn't accept the news from the doctor: it spoke of a deeper knowledge than that provided by past medical professionals. Gibbs had promised Ducky that he'd talk to Kate and, more importantly, listen to her in order to get to the bottom of this.

He was still sitting there, mulling things over, when Kate stirred in her sleep. She tossed her head slightly and moaned a little in pain, then slowly moved her arm and reached out towards him as if she knew he was there. He tentatively reached out and took hold of her hand, just the top of her fingers to begin with, then he grasped her hand fully in his. He began rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, just willing her to wake up and get better.

Kate's eyes opened slowly and she blinked away the sleep from her eyes. She felt someone holding her hand and she was curious to see who it was. She turned her head and looked down to the two hands resting on the bed then followed the arm up until she was looking into the eyes of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and she felt a tightening in her chest when she realised just what the look he was giving her meant.

"Hi again," she whispered.

"Hi," he replied.

"I didn't think you'd be back," she said, a statement without accusation.

"Yeah... I needed to see if you were ok," Gibbs replied weakly, knowing that she deserved an apology but being unable to say the words.

"Did you get the doctor to talk to Ducky?" she asked quietly, pulling her gaze from his.

"Yes. HHe said he can understand why you don't believe it but he's seen the evidence. You _are_ pregnant, Kate." Gibbs had never been one for beating around the bush.

"Are you sure?" He wouldn't lie to her, she knew he wouldn't.

"Yeah, the doctor showed me the scan she'd done."

Kate lay there with her head leaning heavily on the pillows. She couldn't quite believe it, but if she'd been asked yesterday to pick the two people on earth that wouldn't lie to her then Gibbs and Ducky would have been on top of the list. She took a breath and then groaned in pain, remembering exactly why she was lying in a strange hospital room.

"Ssshh, it's ok, I'll get the doctor if you need her?" Gibbs was about to pounce off his seat to get help when Kate pulled him down by the hand she was still holding. Watching him and the care he was displaying for her made her need to confirm some things before she'd let him go.

"Are you ok with it?" she asked, curious about what he'd think about the whole crazy situation.

"Kate, why were you so convinced that it couldn't be true?" He looked away, not looking in her eyes. He knew he'd avoided her question and was being too cagey, but he needed an answer to this question.

Kate turned her head away but left her hand in his; she needed the comfort. She should have known he'd want an explanation for her reaction. She just wasn't sure if she could tell him. Could she trust him with the most personal thing in her life, the one thing that she had buried and not told anyone outside her immediate family?

Gibbs watched her as the thoughts crossed her mind. He was pleased that she wasn't completely angry at him for asking, but he could see the struggle she was facing to open up to him.

"Because I had an abortion when I was 17 and the doctor screwed it up." She was still facing away from him, the shame washing over her as it had done all those years before. She hadn't told her parents she was even pregnant, never mind having the operation. It had been the worst moment of her life.

Gibbs remained silent; this was one of the possibilities he had considered earlier. He knew there was more to come and a few seconds later she started to whisper again.

"I was told I'd never be able to fall pregnant again. My parents were distraught. Not that I couldn't have a baby but that I had killed one. They called the family priest. I'd never really gotten on with him and, well, this episode was a nightmare." She glanced back at him and was encouraged when she saw the concern shining in his eyes.

"My family's priest said the fact that I couldn't have children was God's punishment for having had an abortion. I believed him." Gibbs had to lean closer to hear what Kate was saying as she was almost whispering by the end. He could see tears making their way down the side of her face and he reached over to cup her cheek and turn her head towards him. Then he used his fingers to gently wipe away the tears.

"That must have been an awful time for you." Gibbs' heart was breaking for her.

Kate simply nodded. He hadn't condemned her but did he agree with the priest? A horrible thought crossed her mind as she touched her stomach; it was so terrible that she just had to voice it. "What if the priest was right and God will kill this baby as a punishment, too?"

Gibbs sighed and took her hand properly in both of his. He waited until she was looking into his eyes and, seeing her fear, spoke with more tenderness than Kate had heard in his voice before. "Katie, I learned a long time ago that God doesn't work that way."

"But what if He does?" she quizzed back, desperate for him to make her believe it, to make her see that this fear, which had lingered through her university years and years in the secret service, was not a reality.

Gibbs lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. He knew he had to be honest. Kate was clearly opening up to him, telling him something that no one else knew. He knew he had to do the same, no matter how difficult that might be or how uncomfortable and vulnerable it made him feel. "I know what it's like to lose a child, Kate. I've never told anyone at NCIS but my first wife and daughter were killed over 10 years ago. It's taken me a long time to realise that they weren't killed to punish me."

"Why haven't you told anyone before?"

"Because they were part of my past. I don't like to share, but I love you Kate, and you deserve to know."

"You love me?" Kate was flabbergasted. "When did you realise that?"

"When I saw you lying on the ground having been shot."

Kate looked at him directly, amazed that he had actually come out and said anything, never mind exactly how he felt about her.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked her, his investigative skills getting the better of him. She nodded in response.

"Does Ducky know about the abortion?" Kate lowered her eyes.

"No, my file just outlines the last operation I had to try and solve the problem. Being a civilian isn't like being in the military, Gibbs. They don't know absolutely everything about you, especially from long ago. When I joined NCIS I just had to fill out a form indicating any medical issues. I've had several operations over the years, trying to fix the damage that had been done, but I was told that it had only helped a little, removing some scar tissue, I didn't think that anybody needed to know. But I mentioned the last one because I can get really bad cramps – I've had to take days off work before - and it's better if that information is official."

"Well, you won't need to worry about cramps for a while now." Gibbs tried to smile and lighten the mood.

Kate's face suddenly fell and the colour drained out of it.

"What if something happens? After the last operation the doctors said I was very unlikely to get pregnant and if I did I would find it hard to carry a baby to term."

"Shh, calm down. We'll take it one day at a time and, if something does happen, we mourn and move on." Gibbs had been gently stroking Kate's hand, but then he stopped, his voice becoming forceful as he looked directly at her. "But it will _not_ happen as a punishment for you or me, understood?"

Kate nodded and smiled a watery smile at him. "But what are we going to do at work?"

"Well, you can't be at an active crime scene..."

"Gibbs..." she started to argue.

"No argument! Besides, it's agency policy. So, it's desk work for you. The details we'll have to sort out with the Director."

"You're going to be trouble, I can tell." Kate grinned.

Gibbs smirked. "As long as you stay out of trouble, I'll be no problem at all."

Kate's smile wavered. "We good then, with all of this?" she asked hesitantly, still a little uncertain.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about before. I was a little scared and tried to push you away." Gibbs looked down, going a little red.

Kate had to giggle, this was so unlike the man she knew. "What's this, Gibbs - 'The second B is for Bastard', apologising _and_ admitting he was scared all in one sentence?" she smiled using what he had told her after they met to tease him.

Gibbs looked back up at Kate. "Well, yeah."

"I think I'm going to like this new side to you, Agent Gibbs. In fact, I think I love it already." Kate was about to pull him towards her to finish off their conversation with a kiss when they were suddenly interrupted.

"Boss, you in here?" Tony called out from the other side of the curtain.

"What is it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs snapped back.

Tony stuck his head through the gap, noticing that Kate was awake. "Oh, hey, Kate. How are you feeling?" He looked at Gibbs without waiting for an answer, completely oblivious to the look Gibbs was giving him. "Boss, just wanted to tell you that the briefing went well. General Landry has taken my report and Ducky's so we're good to go. Oh, the General said to tell you that he'd organise one of the air force Lear jets. Can you believe they have more than one? Anyway, he says we can go when Kate's able to be moved."

Just then Tony noticed the joined hands of his boss and his team mate and he couldn't take his eyes off them. Then he smirked, desperate to make a very inappropriate comment. However, before he could say something, he caught a shift in movement from Gibbs and quickly glanced his way. Seeing the traditional Gibbs glare in place he diverted his eyes and continued to brief Gibbs, for once managing to refrain. "Well, Abby and McGee are getting a personal tour of the actual Stargate and then we planned to go out for lunch. There was a message from O'Neill for you as well. He said that he's making an honest woman out of her. Said you'd understand." Gibbs nodded but didn't elaborate, much to Tony's annoyance. "Right, well, good to see you awake, Kate. We'll go out for some food then come see you later, if that's ok?"

"Sounds good, Tony. If you happen to pass a chocolate shop, could you maybe get me some?"

"No problemo. Boss, anything?"

Gibbs just continued to look straight at Tony and Tony got the distinct impression that he really wasn't wanted there, so he gave Kate a quick smile and then rushed out the door.

As Tony left Gibbs smiled.

"Gibbs, what was all that about General O'Neill?" Kate whispered to him.

"Well, if DiNozzo got the message right, he's marrying Colonel Carter today."

"I knew I was right! Didn't I tell you?" Kate beamed up at Gibbs, having been proven right.

Gibbs could see the only way to shut her up was the old fashioned way. He leaned over and kissed her, and for now all was right in his world.


End file.
